20 years ago I . . .
- was fourteen years old and had just finished eighth grade.
- had a crush on a high school senior with whom I am quite lucky I didn't end up.
- was relatively slim after months of living on seven hundred calories a day.
- spent the summer helping my father put in hay and had quite the tractor tan.
- was twenty-four and had just finished my first year of teaching at a residential school for the deaf.
- had just made a vow to stop purging and was beginning another calorie-counting diet with a punishing exercise program.
- I got my two cats, who were just tiny kittens at the time.
- had been married for ten wonderful months to my soulmate and was planning a vacation to the beach withhim.
- was was finishing my sixth year of teaching, my fourth year at a large public high school.
- was just starting to try to get pregnant.
3 years ago I . . .
- had a two-week-old son wand was trying to figure out breastfeeding. My son was nursing every hour and a half, my nipples were killing me, and I was severely sleep-deprived. I recall wondering if the difficulties we had had conceiving/carrying a baby had been a warning that I wasn't mother material.
- was getting visits from my students who wanted to see the new baby. I felt totally overwhelmed by company, yet I was glad they were there since part of me was missing my job already.
- was spending my mornings taking my two-year-old son and my six-month-old daughter outside into our tiny, treeless backyard, where my daughter would either sleep or scream/spit up while my son played on his slide or with his sand and water table.
- was helping my husband send out resumes and applications for a new job. He had had some interviews but hadn't had any good offers yet.
- cuddled and snuggled and read to and played with my beautiful children.
- spent a lot of evenings cuddling and watching Netflix movies with my husband.
- realized I might like to become a Jew.
- hosted my second Passover seder.
- started this blog.
Yesterday I . . .
- did laundry, fed the kids, changed countless diapers, took the kids for a walk, read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus at least ten times, showed my children a bird's nest, and used those fun little bathtub coloring tablets to turn the kids' bathwater blue.
- finished a great book called The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.
- enjoyed letting my husband grill so I wouldn't have to cook dinner.
- used our new, but already quite used, shop vac downstairs because, dammit, it's still leaking.
- spent the morning cleaning the house, which already looks messed up again.
- am making challah for dinner tonight.
- told my son, while rocking him and getting ready to sing to him before his nap, about how I love him even when I don't like his behavior -- hitting, pinching, etc. -- and about all the wonderful things he does that make me very proud, a list of which I was lovingly enumerating when he looked me in the eye and said, "Sing."
Tomorrow I will . . .
- relax with my family.
- probably read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus at least twenty times.
In the next year I will . . .
- begin my conversion process. (See, I'm being decisive today.)
- find a pre-school for my son.
- find a way to get out of the house at least one day a week, whether it's through membership in some kind of organization, a class, or a part-time job.
- find a babysitter so that my husband and I can go out more.
- go on our very first vacation as a family of four.
- enjoy every minute of my children's silliness.
1 comment:
Woo! See, I would have pegged you out had I know you would actually do it! ;-) I am glad you did though.
And making your own challah? Very impressive! I taught for a very brief time at synogogue teaching "Jewish cooking." The class was only an hour long and filled with surly 14 year olds. We made challah out of bagel dough and hammentaschen out of cake mixes.
So, you are one step ahead! :-)
Post a Comment