This made me laugh:
Michael and Cole watching TV circa 2004
Michael and Eli watching TV circa 2006
Michael and Rylan watching TV circa 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Corsages, Motherhood, and
"Facial-Hairless" Faces
A few weeks before Mother's Day, I read a blog post by a man advising other men what they should do for their wives for Mother's Day, and one of his suggestions was to buy a corsage. For some reason, the comments section exploded over that little suggestion.
"A corsage??!!" one woman exclaimed. "Is it 1982?"
"Corsages are classic," someone else disagreed.
"If you're 80," said another.
On my first reading, I sided with those arguing that corsages are outdated and only worn by old women. But then I realized, No man has ever bought me a corsage ever in my whole life. I didn't go to prom or any other high school dance, so the only people who've given me corsages are my parents and grandparents.
When Michael got home from work that day, I said, "For Mother's Day, I'd like a corsage."
He came through. :)
At the beginning of June, I started taking a night class - the first of many I'll be taking over the next year and a half so I can get certified to teach high school in the state of North Carolina. This fall, Rylan will start kindergarten, and I'll start substitute teaching so that when I'm certified I'll have more to put on my resume than "mother to three wonderful boys."
For the past six months, my emotions have been waffling back and forth about this whole working thing. The fact is that I love this motherhood gig. I love the freedom and the flexibility. I love being my own boss. And of course I'm crazy about my little underlings. On the flip side, we could use the extra income, and (though I know this will sound crazy to some people) I get super excited about lesson planning.
So this year was my last time celebrating Mother's Day as a stay at home mom for the foreseeable future. Next year I plan to trade in my minivan for something more fuel efficient. A year after that, I'll have a middle schooler. Such is life...
But enough about me. Let's talk about Michael and how he looks like a 12-year-old without his beard.
Some days I'm used to it, and some days I do a double take when I see him. He's been facial-hair-free for nearly two months now, but he had facial hair when I met him and almost all eleven years of our marriage, so it's just kind of weird.
I think it would now be appropriate to take a little walk down memory lane through the history of Michael's facial hair:
Chin Beard
Full Beard
Beard but Bald
"A corsage??!!" one woman exclaimed. "Is it 1982?"
"Corsages are classic," someone else disagreed.
"If you're 80," said another.
On my first reading, I sided with those arguing that corsages are outdated and only worn by old women. But then I realized, No man has ever bought me a corsage ever in my whole life. I didn't go to prom or any other high school dance, so the only people who've given me corsages are my parents and grandparents.
When Michael got home from work that day, I said, "For Mother's Day, I'd like a corsage."
He came through. :)
At the beginning of June, I started taking a night class - the first of many I'll be taking over the next year and a half so I can get certified to teach high school in the state of North Carolina. This fall, Rylan will start kindergarten, and I'll start substitute teaching so that when I'm certified I'll have more to put on my resume than "mother to three wonderful boys."
For the past six months, my emotions have been waffling back and forth about this whole working thing. The fact is that I love this motherhood gig. I love the freedom and the flexibility. I love being my own boss. And of course I'm crazy about my little underlings. On the flip side, we could use the extra income, and (though I know this will sound crazy to some people) I get super excited about lesson planning.
So this year was my last time celebrating Mother's Day as a stay at home mom for the foreseeable future. Next year I plan to trade in my minivan for something more fuel efficient. A year after that, I'll have a middle schooler. Such is life...
But enough about me. Let's talk about Michael and how he looks like a 12-year-old without his beard.
Some days I'm used to it, and some days I do a double take when I see him. He's been facial-hair-free for nearly two months now, but he had facial hair when I met him and almost all eleven years of our marriage, so it's just kind of weird.
I think it would now be appropriate to take a little walk down memory lane through the history of Michael's facial hair:
Sideburns
Chin Beard
Full Beard
Beard but Bald
The Usual
Monday, June 24, 2013
Sunday, June 9, 2013
For Kellie: One Reason that I Love A Room with a View
A Room with a View is my favorite and is my best. I have read that book so many times, I have some parts memorized. Knowing that I love it, Kellie texted me the other day to say that her book club was going to be reading it. I texted back, "I don't know anyone besides me that likes it." I even have a couple of friends who tried to read it but gave up. Crazy people! A Room with a View is such a perfect book.
The other day I was listening to President Uchtdorf's talk from the last General Conference, and he told a story of a woman who'd had a terrible childhood but had grown up and overcome it. Then later as an adult, she again began to be weighed down by her past. He said that eventually she realized that for her "the best path for healing was to understand and accept that darkness exists - but not to dwell there. For, as she now knew, light also exists - and that is where she chose to dwell."
That quote reminded me of one of the themes of A Room with a View. The character George has trouble with depression because he's weighed down by "the everlasting Why," as Forster puts it. In other words, why are we here? Why do people we love die? Why is there so much suffering in the world? What is the point of all of this?
George's dad says to Lucy (the main character), "All life is perhaps a knot, a tangle, a blemish in the eternal smoothness. But why should this make us unhappy? Let us rather love one another, and work and rejoice...Make [George] realize that by the side of the everlasting Why there is a Yes - a transitory Yes if you like, but a Yes."
I have a tendency at times to feel overwhelmed by the everlasting Why. There are tornadoes and marathon bombings and school shootings and my boots are so heavy (as another favorite literary character would say) that I struggle to get myself out of bed in the morning. That's when this quote from A Room with a View runs through my head. I don't fully understand the Why, but I can rejoice in the Yes. Darkness may exist, but I can choose where I dwell.
The other day I was listening to President Uchtdorf's talk from the last General Conference, and he told a story of a woman who'd had a terrible childhood but had grown up and overcome it. Then later as an adult, she again began to be weighed down by her past. He said that eventually she realized that for her "the best path for healing was to understand and accept that darkness exists - but not to dwell there. For, as she now knew, light also exists - and that is where she chose to dwell."
That quote reminded me of one of the themes of A Room with a View. The character George has trouble with depression because he's weighed down by "the everlasting Why," as Forster puts it. In other words, why are we here? Why do people we love die? Why is there so much suffering in the world? What is the point of all of this?
George's dad says to Lucy (the main character), "All life is perhaps a knot, a tangle, a blemish in the eternal smoothness. But why should this make us unhappy? Let us rather love one another, and work and rejoice...Make [George] realize that by the side of the everlasting Why there is a Yes - a transitory Yes if you like, but a Yes."
I have a tendency at times to feel overwhelmed by the everlasting Why. There are tornadoes and marathon bombings and school shootings and my boots are so heavy (as another favorite literary character would say) that I struggle to get myself out of bed in the morning. That's when this quote from A Room with a View runs through my head. I don't fully understand the Why, but I can rejoice in the Yes. Darkness may exist, but I can choose where I dwell.
Monday, June 3, 2013
One Day I'll Find Time to Write Words
My summer classes have started. I spent approximately four hours reading my textbook today, and I still haven't caught up to where I'm supposed to be. This is going to be a crazy summer.
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