Saturday, February 25, 2012

Months Later

You know it's a little funny. I'm fairly sure my mom never once read this blog when Logan and I were married. However, she stumbled upon it recently, and said that the two posts on here were not at all my personality. They were too sarcastic and cynical.... Then I asked her if we had met. My entire personality is practically based on cynicism and absolutely drenched with sarcasm. Oh well.

She also said that I sound bitter, which I can say I certainly was when i wrote it. Not bitter so much as just stunned at how things had unfolded.

Anyway, I kept up a pretty good monologue on my blog, so check it out if you feel so inclined: theblogganator.wordpress.com

Friday, June 3, 2011

It's a funny sort of thing....

....Divorce, that is. One day you're married, and one day you're not. Well, more appropriately, one day you're married, and 1-90 days later, you're not. And that's where Logan and I are; somewhere in that limbo between being married legally, and both desperately wanting it to be done. It's like having a pain in your foot or your arm and you just want to slice it off so that the pain will go away. Except that the pain is lodged firmly within your soul and heart, and there's no way of knowing whether or not it will every go away. But, I understand that it gets better the more time that passes, and I'm hopeful that it will.

In respect of Logan's and my privacy, I won't go into the details, and frankly I don't know all of the details myself. But it is fair for me to say that to the best of my knowledge, there was no infidelity, abuse, or any other interesting gossip to go along with this sad state of affairs. I think it's easiest to say that we are two people who suddenly have different priorities, goals and plans for life. And apparently those goals and life-plans do not include each other.

I can still be found on facebook and on my personal blog (which is dripping with cynicism, my uneducated opinion and vulgarity). If you don't know how to find it, email me and I'll be happy to link you to it.

Thank you to everyone for all your love and support!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Newsweek Article

I read this article in Newsweek last year, and I thought I'd share it in this venue. I've had it posted on my myspace page since I first read it, but it seems relevant again since we moved. Logan and I have been happily married for 3, yes 3, years, I get more and more people who feel compelled to ask me about my pregnancy situation. I'm not sure why everyone else is so concerned with it. Yes, I have been bitten by the baby bug, but the baby bug symptoms come and go... Anyway, I really appreciated this article and hopefully it will give some less tactful individuals reason to keep their mouths shut. We do plan on having kids, but your nagging doesn't make me want to get going any more than when the nagging comes from someone who's opinion in that area (my parents, logan's parents, our immediate familes -- that means our brothers and sisters with kids, so really that's only Craig and Ann) really matters to us. I hate to sound rude, and it's not like I don't care about your opinion. I just don't care about your opinions about when I plan on starting MY family. Thanks anyway.

Anyway... Here's the article:
- I am at a party chatting with a woman I know slightly. As her young son squirms out of her embrace, she slips her hand under my shirt. She's not getting fresh with me. She's touching my tummy with her cold hand and asking me, in a concerned voice, "Why aren't you pregnant yet?" I smile, break free from her touch, and head to the food table to fill said empty belly with her brat's birthday cake.

I love children and definitely plan on having them. Maternal instinct is oozing out of my pores: I've infantilized my dogs; I've gotten down on my hands and knees at the park with babies I barely know. My marriage is wonderful and solid, and we are both blessed with good health. I've been a nanny, a teacher, a youth-group leader. I've taken childhood-development courses solely for the purpose of someday raising happy, balanced children. I have always looked forward to becoming a mother.

So why don't I have kids or even the inkling right now? It's because of you. Yes, you: the fanatical mothers of the world. It may seem like ages ago now, but you weren't always like this. You, too, were sneering at the obnoxious parents who brought their infants to fancy, adult, nighttime restaurants or R-rated movies and let them carry on, ruining things for other patrons. You've been terrible advertising for the club that you so desperately need others to join.

If you want me to join your ranks—and you've made it clear with your cold, clammy hands on my stomach that recruiting my uterus is of paramount importance to you—I need to set some ground rules.

First, please stop asking me when I'm going to get pregnant.

For all you know, I cannot have kids. For all I know, I cannot have kids, as I have not yet tried. But imagine how painful this line of interrogation would be if I had submitted to all kinds of procedures, only to come up empty-wombed. It would be emotionally devastating. Yet ever since the day after my wedding two years ago, I have fielded this question from the eye doctor, the dental assistant, my yoga teacher, the bagger at the grocery store. All of them feel entitled to ask. Don't. It's none of your business.

Next, don't completely abandon your own life and passions. You're setting a bad example for aspiring mothers-to-be like me.

I recently expressed my happiness over an achievement I had at work to a mother-friend of mine. She said, dripping with condescension, "Well, you don't know happiness until you've had a baby."

That's very possible, but don't rain on my parade, as I've never said to you, "Remind me, when you went to that expensive college you majored in diaper-rash prevention, right?"

I happen to love my job. It fulfills me in ways no other person—even a child—could. I learned through my own mother's example that the best lesson you can teach your kids is to pursue their passions. It's not selfish to have your own life. In fact, it's selfish not to.

Now let's talk a bit about manners, as in please teach your children some. The world has rules, and kids should learn them. And being well mannered does not infringe on their individuality and freedom.

I crouched to meet the eye line of an acquaintance's 4-year-old to greet her, and in response, she punched me in the face so hard my mouth bled. What was more baffling was the mother's reaction: nothing to the child, but to me she said very sternly: "You really shouldn't talk down to kids."

I also shouldn't be punched in the face by kids whose parents don't know how to set basic boundaries. Experiences like this don't exactly encourage me to hurry up and get pregnant.

Finally, don't make your kid an extension of your own narcissism.

No one could possibly love your kids as much as you do, so stop inflicting them on others. Don't bring your kid to adult parties when you're not sure if it's kid-friendly. If they didn't invite your kid, they don't want your kid there. If you don't want to get a babysitter, stay home.

My husband thinks some people, particularly mothers, behave in these ways because it helps them validate their own choices. But he doesn't truly understand how infuriating it is, and that's because nobody badgers men with questions about procreation.

Becoming a parent was your decision, and I am thrilled for you. All I'm asking is that you let me make that choice in my own time. And keep your hands off my belly.