I really didn’t want to write about this–the emotion surrounding sending my kid off to college–since I wrote about it at length three years ago when I did it the first time, but I can’t help it. The fact is, I’m doing it again and I have returned to that state of mind. Under the circumstances, I feel an intense need for a cathartic release–again–especially because this time involves the added element of becoming an empty nester. Though I still carry a smile on my face and am truly, extremely happy, I have this inner shrieking and squirming that ebbs and flows underneath it all. The act of putting these…
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Painting It Red
After talking about it for a year and a half, the time has finally come. We are FINALLY making preparations to paint J’s (D’s former) room. As in, we bought the paint. If his room were just any old traditional color, I wouldn’t be blogging about it. Some of you may recall, however, that the color has been an issue for some of us in the house (Jim) ever since we first applied it to the walls because of the anticipated amount of work it would eventually take to cover it. Let me refresh your memory: You can read the background story here. When D started college and J eventually…
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Not As Dangerous As Tina Fey & Steve Carrell’s Version, But Our Date Night Was Pretty Exciting, Too.
Our date night last night turned out to be way more interesting (and even exciting!) than we expected. First of all, we left our house in the western burbs at about 7:30 p.m. The Blue Man Group show (which the older boy and his girlfriend were attending: read yesterday’s post if you missed it!) was at 10:00 p.m., and we wanted to leave plenty of time in case the Eisenhower was as terrible as it usually is. We were shooting to get to the Lakeview area between 9-9:30. Miracle of miracles, it only took us about 45 minutes to get there, which left us with a new issue: what to…
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Perseverance
Definition courtesy of Dictionary.comI have, regarding approximately 98% of the elements in my life*, a super-human sense of stick-to-it-iveness. It’s a lethal combination of passion, attention to detail, pride, perfectionism, strong work ethic, and stubbornness. When I decide to do something, I put on my game face, focus on the goal, and get to work. I’m often the last one standing after others have long given up. Usually, I don’t allow setbacks to get me down. (That’s my sense of denial stepping in, I think!) On Monday afternoon, I had a little bump in the road with a current project, and although I did my best to play it off…
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(Spring) Break From the Normal
Spring Break was highly unusual for me this year, not in what we did but how it felt. As usual, we didn’t go on a vacation (last year’s New York City trip was a freak occurrence); we were just milling about smartly around the house. I worked my two days at the salon and taught three spin classes, Jim worked, and the boys had lacrosse practice, got together with friends, and wasted time in the normal ways that they don’t often get to enjoy (video games, watching movies, etc.) because we’re so busy. It felt…weird. Perhaps it’s because I spend so much time these days at home and on the…