Moldy Monday

Extremely loud noises are permeating my living room as workers pull the walls apart to remove a mold problem around our windows. We renovated the entire house two years ago, to make it accessible, so in my opinion this should not be happening. But I have a lot of opinions, and only so much control.

The first to arrive was Ronnie, at 8am, in a dark polo with the logo of his company and jeans, his scruffy blond beard a match not only for so many people in his construction industry, but also nearly every man in San Francisco. Beards have been in for so long that I keep expecting the backlash – – didn’t everyone read the articles about how beards are as dirty as toilet seats? Scarlett keeps trying to get Rob to grow a mustache. I am not a fan of that plan. But again, opinions.

I will disclose that the last time Rob grew a mustache, a friend of mine who had never met him asked if he was my dad. This story still makes me laugh, and that is why I enjoy sharing it widely. Read More>

|Categories: Life | Tags: , , | Permalink

Extrovert Inaction

It’s pouring rain in San Francisco, and I decided to spend my day reading Sue Klebold’s memoir, A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy, about her son, one of the gunmen in 1999′s Columbine High School massacre. I read a review of the book this morning, and was immediately compelled to purchase it, for reasons I can’t easily explain. I’m actually in the middle of another book, a pretty good debut mystery called Out of the Blues, but I set that one aside to begin Reckoning. It felt like a critical read.

This whole week has been really busy for me, with visitors and meetings, and tomorrow is no different. But today my calendar was wide open. To some people that probably sounds nice, and even I can see the benefits of it. But here’s what happens to me when I spend too much time alone. I get withdrawn and tired, and I focus more on my ALS symptoms. Add to that that I’m reading this particularly devastating (but very good) book, and it doesn’t look like today is going to be the high point of my week.

I’m an extrovert. Read More>

|Categories: Life, Meditation, Relationships | Tags: , , , , , | Permalink

Go Women

In honor of International Women’s Day, Scarlett made a piece of art in class depicting her “She-ro.” Spoiler alert: It was me! I was extremely flattered, though a little confused because the text under her drawing explained that she is mainly impressed by me because I was brave enough to attend my own wedding.

I’m glad she’s proud of me, but I had to tell her that I wasn’t scared to get married, that it was something I wanted to do. Still, I did use the whole thing against Rob for a little while, enjoying the idea that his daughter thought it took a great deal of courage to marry him.

I don’t find myself feeling fearful very often. Sad, angry, frustrated: those are all emotions that I’ve described in detail on this blog. But I try very hard not to spend my time feeling scared, telling myself that it doesn’t help anything. That logic works for me more often than you’d think it would. I suppose this might be the result of my anti-anxiety pills, but I don’t actually take very many of those. Just enough to get me to my first glass of wine, and then it’s smooth sailing. That’s a joke! It’s not smooth sailing at all, just ask Rob. Don’t look him directly in the eyes, though, he’s terrifying and that’s why it was so gutsy of me to become his wife. Read More>

|Categories: Life, Parenting, Relationships | Tags: , , , | Permalink