A Week in Review


It's amazing what stepping away from the ol' blog for a week will do. I had to practically tie my hands behind my back so I wouldn't haphazardly concoct posts about egg nog or the ease of gift-giving as a parent. (Just frame 10x 8x10 photos of your baby and POOF! Instant awesome!)

I did manage a couple posts on Babble in the last week. Because it's a gig and I couldn't exactly unplug all the way now could I? Sooooo, if you haven't read and are interested:

- It's a Holiday in California Where the People Dress in Shorts is about spending holidays with loved ones, even if it means heatwaves and swimming pools for Christmas.

- A Heartbreaking Closet of Staggering Teensy-ness is about fishing for hand-me-downs for my favorite new arrival, baby Zach, and getting all nostalgic and shit because Archer is not a boy, not yet a manchild. And sometimes it's hard to come to terms with infancy being but a memory. (Don't even try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.)


I do realize that I said I would stay away from GGC for an entire week but I'm sorry. I cannot. Maybe it's just me, but I cannot so much as experience a moment without wanting to write about it. And sometimes when I step away and really take a look at myself I realize what a curse this blogging thing has been. Because. I. Just. Can't. Stop.

Then again, I have always written about everything-- journals and diaries and files full of ideas and stories and "posts" so I guess if I wasn't blogging here, I would be writing somewhere else. In mechanical pencil. On paper. For my eyes only. Which I miss. But like any other insecure person, I need affirmation. I need to feel like I'm worth something and here, in this box on my computer screen, I really do.


This post set off to be a week in review because I have so much I want to say about Archer on Christmas morning and how even though we have decided to raise him Jewish, it makes me so happy to see him dance around the Christmas Tree and tear open the wrapping paper in his pajamas Christmas morning. Because even if we won't have Christmas at home, I am grateful that my childhood memories can overlap with his.

And even though my husband is so very anti. Anti-holiday. Anti-comsumerism. Anti- Christmas tree, I think deep down he might just like coming down here, to my parent's house, where everything is trimmed with lights and gingerbread homes come complete with shark-infested-pools, and the music is always on and cheesy as hell, and there is dancing.

I'm not going to lie, marriage can at times be a mighty shit-sling-fest but somewhere in the muck there is joy and laughter and a whole lotta love'n. And it makes the shit-storms and the financial turmoil and intellectual differences seem insignificant. And the "together forever" thing less scary.



My husband challenges me daily. He's my biggest critic and also, I am realizing, my greatest supporter. It's crazy how sometimes I feel we barely know each other and other times, like now, I feel I truly met my match. Someone insane and ruthless and judgmental as all hell and wonderful who likes to dance. And sing. And yell at people who can't drive. Who doesn't even flinch when I accidentally Dutch-oven him at night which I appreciate. (Sorry. but I just don't get those couples who keep their bodily functions to themselves. Where's the fun in that? What's the point of getting married if you can't talk about poop and fart in front of each other? I mean, the dude watched me give birth. It doesn't get any more intimate than that. Duh!)


I think I might have burned as many calories as I consumed this last week laughing my ass off. Between my husband and my father I'm drowning in one-liners and silliness. This is why life is good. This is why I love being married. And having an amazing family to come home to. This is why I am so lucky to be surrounded by people that I love.

A is for awesome!*

Hope you had a wonderful holiday. We're back in business, ladies and gents. Now the countdown to New Years. (I guess I totally lied about the "see you next year!" It was fun saying so, at least.)

But seriously, now. I'll see y'all next year.

Maybe.

GGC


*Archer's wardrobe c/o CMP and Woopsie Baby.

11 comments:

Anonymous | 9:52 PM

okay. good. i can feel the shakes going away as we speak. thanks for the dose :)

~jjlibra

joker the lurcher | 9:53 PM

i want those shoes! now! and that dress (although i fear it would not look as good on my ample frame) but the shoes - yes!

Anonymous | 9:53 PM

oh and, those are the most beautiful floors i have ever seen. seriously.

Gina | 11:02 PM

Love. this. post.

Anonymous | 9:26 AM

I feel the exact same way. About blogging. About my family. About my husband. About writing. About all of it.

Except the dancing. I don't dance. I look like a rubber chicken on a trampoline when I dance.

Binky | 9:39 AM

Here's to the next year being as good as this last week. Happy New Year!

BTW, marriage as a "shit-sling-fest" has earned a permanent place in my vocabulary. Thank you for that!

Anonymous | 9:11 PM

welcome back! i missed you! i knew you wouldn't/couldn't stay away a whole week which is why i checked in daily and HA-HA, I was right! loved your post :)
pascale

PunditMom | 2:03 PM

Hope you have a great New Year! I was reminded again this week why I love California, especially this time of year (even if I did come done with the stomach flu while we were in Carmel!) I think when I retire (yeah, in my dreams) it will be to Calif.!

Anonymous | 4:42 PM

What you said about biggest critic/biggest fan? Loved it. So very true, and really it's the only way I'd want it to be. I love to be appreciated, but I don't want anybody blowing smoke up my ass.

Beautiful pics of all three of you. Happy New Year!! I'll see you in Chicago, if not before.

motherbumper | 6:58 AM

I'm so with you on the daily challenges that we present each other in marriage. And I'm so relieved I'm not the only one to dutch oven the spousal unit (phew).

Kristen | 12:01 PM

Wow. Glad you had such an awesome holiday. It's refreshing to hear about a couple with significant differences finding a way to have a happy time at the holidays. See you next year!