Orange Weekend

My orange accessory is ready, the camera battery is charged, and Amsterdam is beginning to look as though subtlety has been formally suspended. #

Orange weekend. Not King’s Day yet, but the city has crossed the point where pretending nothing is happening would be impossible. Orange in windows, orange decorations, orange merchandise, orange objects whose normal versions I did not know required national editions. I wore my little accessory tonight just to see whether I could tolerate it. I can. Tasteful. Restrained. Almost suspiciously so compared with what will happen Monday. Work had that Friday feeling intensified by the coming celebration, people talking about plans, weather, where they might be. I enjoy collective anticipation even when everybody’s actual plans are different. The date pulls the city toward itself. After work I met Yuri and we went out. Friday night, nothing enormous. Dinner, drinks, walking, the centre already livelier. I wore boots because I am saving my sensible shoes for Monday like an athlete protecting equipment. This is what thirty looks like. Strategy. We talked about King’s Day plans again and changed them slightly. Planning remains decorative. I took a few photographs of orange displays and immediately realised they will look restrained compared with what I photograph in three days. Still, archive. On the way home we stopped for something small and stood outside longer than necessary because the evening was not too cold. Light still present. April has moved quickly. Easter already feels farther away than it should. I called Mom when we got home even though it was late enough that I knew she might already be winding down. She answered. I told her I had found the orange thing. She wanted to see it. Of course. Photograph sent. Approval received. Yuri watched this exchange and said, «Now it’s official.» Exactly. Tomorrow is April twenty-fifth, which sits in my calendar with an entirely different weight, then Koningsnacht, then King’s Day. Italian history and Dutch celebration almost touching in the same weekend. My life does this often now. Calendars overlap. Meanings sit beside each other without needing to merge. Tonight I am letting Friday remain Friday. My orange accessory is on the dresser. I moved it from the allegedly safe location because I nearly forgot where that was. This location is visible. We learn.

Remember me, Eclipse.