I’m pretty sure Annie has ESP. I can think of a half dozen times when I’d be seriously struggling and the phone would ring and Annie would say, “What’s going on? I felt like I was supposed to call.” I wish I could say that I’ve done that for her. When the kids and I moved out of Mark’s house, I hadn’t told many friends. A couple days after we moved into mom’s, Annie had stopped at Mark’s business and asked of me. She’d had a feeling something was up and called me at mom’s. She’s that kind of person. She’s very intuitive.
I met Annie about 20 years ago. I was working the front counter at a sandwich/deli place. This tall woman with two darling little girls walks in, and she’s wearing the same skirt that I was wearing. That’s only weird because I’d ordered the skirt from a catalog, so she must have ordered it from the same catalog.
Her kids are older than mine. She’s an involved mom who helps run the family business, volunteers her time at her church and heads a group at the museum. We don’t see each other often, but we always pick up where we leave off.
Sometimes it feels like I’ve known her longer than I have. Maybe we knew each other in another life. Actually, I’m pretty sure I was married to her dad in another incarnation. ;) Stan and I didn’t have the timing right for this life, so I’m sure we connected in another life. And so I’ve ‘known’ Annie for a long time.
After I got to know her, we’d be gabbing over coffee, and she’d willingly share a cooking tip, and she’d start it with, “If a guy…..” It would be something like, “If a guy had some cooked chicken and some blue cheese, you could make….” Or, “If a guy wanted to plant some eucalyptus, he’d do it on the west side of the house.” And I’d giggle to myself each time she’d say, “If a guy…” It’s not like I’m carrying the banner for womens’ rights or fighting the good fight for equal wages and all that stuff (although I can get on a soap box just like any other woman, given enough wine) but it used to crack me up that she’d say, “If a guy…” Continue reading →
Another one for the “If All Else Fails” File. Make cookies and have the girls over. I had to follow the last downer of a post with something happier. Will and I scooped the chocolate chip cookie dough, and Jen scooped teensy tiny cookies for Barbie and Sophie. She baked them off in the toaster oven and invited me and Will to a party. That’s a miniature bowl of frosting next to the plate of cookies.
“And that is another great example of how there are so many different ways to make a living.” My grandfather used to say that. He’d had his share of different careers – mechanic, draftsman, lumber yard manager and more that I can’t remember. We’d be playing Yahtzee, visiting about someone we both knew, and he’d marvel at how the world was changing and people were finding new and interesting ways to make a living.
What is worse – having a narcissistic father that fights for custody and makes the kids’ lives miserable on a daily basis, or having a narcissistic father who wants nothing to do with his children, if they won’t do things his way? I think Will and Jenny have it better. While they will certainly be hurt by the fact that their dad can so easily walk away, they won’t have to deal with the day-to-day dismissals of who they are. They won’t have Mark belittling them or using them as extensions of himself.
This is a picture of the cardboard iPod that Jenny made. She brought it skiing today. Her brother got one for Christmas, and she wants to be a ‘cool kid’, too, so she made her own. At lunch, in the lodge, she was playing with her ‘iPod’, and Will said, “Jen, some people are laughing at your iPod.” Jenny defiantly said, “So what!” I hope she’s able to maintain that attitude. Later, she asked if I wanted a pretend iPod. I wanted to say, “Nah. No thanks, honey. I’ve had a pretend boyfriend for almost 3 years. I’m done pretending for awhile.
I don’t like watching people eat live, slimy, crawling insects. In the old days, I watched the reality TV show, 
