Love
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Monday Randomness
Last week was Ted and my 19th wedding anniversary (link is to Ted’s blog, where you can see a slideshow if you’re interested….we look so YOUNG to me). It seems so strange that so many years have gone by, and yet I still sometimes feel 27. But then I look at my pictures, at my face in the mirror, and I think, oh yeah, I’m not 27 anymore. Oh well. We had a lovely day. We started off by driving to Muir Woods for a hike, with a pit-stop in Sausalito for sandwiches. We saw a segment on Check, Please, Bay Area about a deli counter in a little market,…
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Happy Mother’s Day!
Here we are on Mother’s Day, Philadelphia, 1996. It was a humid day, and Maya didn’t like humidity. Good thing we moved back to California, huh? I look so young. That was 16 years ago, so I was 30. Look how dark my hair is! That’s the color of my dad’s hair, actually…his was blonde when he was a boy, and got darker as he got older, just like me. Unlike me, he didn’t care, and let it stay dark. I didn’t want to dye my hair whilst pregnant, so I had it colored my natural color before I got pregnant. Or close. But then I went red for maybe…
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100 Years Ago Today*
Today is my darling Maya’s 16th birthday. I can’t believe it’s been 16 years already. Wow. The weekend is going to be full of birthday parties, family and friends and cake and fun. Part of having a daughter, in this time when things have gotten so much better for women than they were in the past, and yet being aware of how far we still have to go (birth control, harassment at work or on the street…why are these still issues? Insane and frustrating.)…part of that is seeing articles like this, and having them cause me to think of her. Of my hopes for her, and my dreams for her,…
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Dreaded Day
The dreaded day came and went this week. Gen’s medical conditions got the better of her, and we decided that we didn’t want to keep fixing one thing to just have another pop up. So we put her to sleep on Monday afternoon. We miss her sweet face SO MUCH. She was such a good girl, and we love her so much, and we’re so sad. But we know that she’s not suffering now, and that making sure she didn’t suffer was our responsibility. Damn it. I keep thinking, I want my dog back. But when I think that, I don’t mean the dog that paced the house for hours…
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Loving Your Aging Dog
There’s no two ways about it…Genevieve is an old lady. She takes 8 pills a day to keep her from having diarrhea, which sometimes works. She take 1 pill a day to help keep her from peeing uncontrollably. She takes 1 pill a day to help her appetite and cognitive function. She’s blind. She doesn’t leave the house anymore, except to go in the back yard to do her business. We take her out front sometimes, but after 2 1/2 years of being blind, I think it’s scary for her. I can’t leave her in the back yard, because she might get stuck behind the air conditioner unit or tangled…
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Looking Good
My mom was a big believer in reading. She was addicted to it. She read more than anyone else I have ever known. She loved to read everything, almost any genre, almost any book. LOVED it. When she was trying to figure things out, she would read to find a solution. Recipes, career advice, whatever. Parenting style. She loved her parents dearly, and she firmly believed that they did their best. But she also thought that they could have done better. So when she found she was going to have kids, she wanted to find out how to do things better than her parents had done. For the most part,…
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Morimoto Napa
For our anniversary dinner, Ted and I decided to try something new, rather than our traditional Rivoli dinner. I wanted to go to a place in San Francisco that is supposed to be wonderful, Aquarello, but they’re not open on Sundays, so that was out. Maybe for our 20th anniversary, we’ll go there. Anyway, I remembered reading that Iron Chef Morimoto had opened a restaurant in Napa, so we decided to see if we could get a reservation there. Happily, we were able to get a table, even though it wasn’t until 9:30. So we got dressed up a bit (we were overdressed, the place is pretty casual…but I wanted…
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Happy Anniversary!
18 years already? I’m not sure exactly how that can be, since it feels like we’re still in our 20s…. Thank you for being my husband, my best friend, such a wonderful father to our child, and for always being on my side. It’s you and me against the world, honey. I’m looking forward to the next 18 years of happy marriage to you, though not so excited to think about the wrinkles I’ll have at that point! HA! OK, here’s another anniversary video for you… I remember when you used to make me mix tapes, and this song was on one of them…the next song was ‘Legal Tender’ by…
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Wedding Weekend
Saturday was a gorgeous day in Northern California…sunny but not hot. My friend Janet was in town to celebrate the wedding of another friend of ours, Gretchen. So we went to Sonoma for the wedding, which was held in the back yard of another friend of ours, Laura. Laura has an amazing back yard, you have to admit, with the best backyard view I’ve ever seen not involving an ocean. There are vineyards, which I assume are theirs, but I neglected to ask, so I could be wrong. There are rolling hills and trees, and when the light is just so, it’s pretty magical. She put a lot of work…
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Mother’s Day
Pretty pretty please, don’t you ever ever feel Like you’re less than, less than perfect Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel Like you’re nothing, you are perfect to me* I don’t even like this song. Sorry Pink. Nothing personal. But the other day I was in the car, and it came on, and I found myself wondering if Maya knows that this is how I feel about her. I know, I nag. Pick up your clothes. Do your homework. Make your bed. Finish your girl scout award commitment. But none of that means I think any less of her. It means I know she’s a teen, and sometimes…
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Happy Birthday Ted!
OK, this is just about as corny as it gets, but still….here goes…my message to my darling beloved husband Ted, whom I’ve known and loved for over 23 years…(sing it with me here people, and give it your all…) You light up my life You give me hope To carry on You light up my days and fill my nights with song And you….you light up my life…. Happy Birthday darling!
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Happy Birthday Maya!
Sometimes it seems that the time is flowing so quickly, and that I don’t know how we got from that very first day, with its fear and pain (labor), as well as its joy and exultation (baby), to today, when our beloved daughter is 15 years old! It has thus far been an amazing ride, watching Maya grow from a sweet, dependent baby, to a sweet, strong, thoughtful, intelligent, caring, beautiful girl. She truly is our dream come true, and we could not wish for anything more. I remember those baby wishes, before we had her, before I was pregnant. I had it bad. I wanted a baby so much,…
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Pete and repeat are in a boat…
Pete falls out, who’s left? Repeat! OK, so for a repeat performance, here’s a picture of Maya on Santa’s lap circa 1996, when she was 9 months old. If the picture looks familiar, I posted it about 3 years ago on this very blog. Chrissy and Glinda both reminded me of this photo…Chrissy when she posted a picture of her poor baby freaking out on Santa’s lap, here, and Glinda when she asked about the cuteness of Santa photos, here. In this picture, Santa is a family friend dressed up, not a guy at the mall, which is probably why she’s not screaming. Also, she’s young. Had she sat in…
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One Wedding, Three Babies, and a Funeral
(artwork by Amanda Dagg, found here) Keep beckoning to me, From behind that closed door, The maiden, the mother, and the crone that’s grown old. I hear your voice, coming out of that hole. I listen to you, and I want some more. I listen to you, and I want some more. She will always carry on. Something is lost, something is found. They will keep on speaking her name, Some things changed, some stay the same. ~The Pretenders, Hymn to Her That whole ‘circle of life’ thing is much on my mind these last few days. On Friday, I heard from my dear friend Janet that her father had…
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Friday Radmoness
I know, I’ve been pretty quiet lately. Sorry about that. Last Saturday I went to see my Grandma and my Great Aunt in Stockton. My cousin, who lives in Santa Maria with her two gorgeous kids, was in town, so I thought I’d go visit while they were there. Maya had cheer practice, so she and Ted stayed home. Usually when I go visit Grandma I like to take her and Aunt Flo to lunch, but times are tough right now, and with my cousin and her kids there (who are going through a tougher time than we are), I couldn’t afford to take everyone out. You know what? I…