Christmas Break

Hello, friends. I’m sorry I haven’t blogged in forever, not because I labor under the illusion that my short absence from blog-land was a source of stress, but because I fear I’ve given people the false impression that my last post – you know, the one where I was freaking out about momhood – represents the current state of my mind. Your comments were truly so helpful – so helpful that I decided that I’m doing great and I’ve been living it up ever since. I do have freak-outs, but fortunately they don’t last weeks.

Nathaniel is done with finals. Blessed day. It’s been so wonderful having him home. This week, I have taken a nap every single day. So not only am I sleeping through the night, but I also am sleeping during the day. I haven’t done that since…yeah. It’s been a long time. The sad thing is that naps don’t really make me feel better. I think I’m like a 21-year old who insists on drinking every alcoholic beverage in sight: sure, it makes you feel like crap, but you have to do it just because you can. Also, it’s been so much fun to just hang out with Nathaniel. Turns out, he’s really funny and cool and witty and stuff.

Since my last blog, I have thought of a gazillion posts and this is my attempt to condense them. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve been thinking a lot about two words: cheesy and ironic. They don’t have anything to do with other, so they each deserve their own paragraph. Hmmm, this isn’t going so well…

Cheesy. I was listening to the radio a few weeks back and the lame, generic, Top 40 station I listen to (can you tell how proud I am to listen to those stations?) advertised itself by describing the mix of music it plays. There was some rock, some hip hop, maybe some eighties, but the last line was “with a little bit of cheese,” or something like that. I thought it was interesting that the station admitted to playing cheesy songs. My first reaction was something like, “How sad that they have to pander to the general public who laps up lame music.” Yeah, ridiculous reaction, I know, because who is a member of that general public lapping up cheesy tunes? Me. While I haven’t plunged into the country music arena, I do like cheesy music. For example, I love Taylor Swift. I love to hear about the guy who makes her cry into her guitar. I’m so happy for her when I hear about the guy who has talked to her dad and tells her to pick out a white dress. I love almost any song that celebrates love and life and happiness, or that wants to but is thwarted.

And this isn’t just about songs. Movies, books, stories from friends/acquaintances/people I don’t know: if they’re cheesy, chances are I’ll love them. My blog? Full of cheese, too. Sure, I can get annoyed when people are freaks about love or happiness or whatever, but I suspect I have a much higher tolerance for this sort of thing than others. So I decided that "cheesy" no longer contains any pejorative connotation for me.

Anyway, I typically tone down the optimism and gushing in my blog (I know, can you believe it?), and I will continue to do so a bit, but I think I’m going to let it fly a little more. More spurting (I need a synonym for “gushing”) about Summer, about Nathaniel, about my church, about my family, about Nathaniel’s family, about friends, about life. I’ve always loved life. Life is great.

Wow, okay, I’m tired. Irony and feminism will have to wait for another day.