Just wanted to touch base, though. I've been reading Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions, and it's phenomenal, just like her other books (Bird by Bird being one of my favorites). It's about her son's first year; at age 34ish, she got pregnant by a man who left and so she raised her son alone. But not really *alone* but with her village. In an early chapter, she writes so vividly about the love a parent has for his or her child. I won't quote her directly but she writes about how she used to think that she could handle whatever life could throw at her-- sickness, death, disease-- and come out okay even if bruised on the other side. But there's one thing she could not survive and that is losing her child. This idea rang so true inside of me. I've been handed some fairly crappy cards in this life and I've gotten through just fine; while I wish some events hadn't happened or at least had happened differently, they shaped me and I like the person I've become. But if something were to ever happen to Ethan-- that's just not something I think I could ever get past.
Wow. That's a downer, huh? Her book isn't all gloom; it's really quite witty and entertaining and true. Anne Lamott writes the true things that we all think somewhere deep down and I appreciate her for it. She writes the way I wish I could.
Today was my third day at work and it's so bad. Being with Ethan and having such an extended break has been nice, but it's good to be back, too. I feel academic again. I feel creative. Plus, I can eat lunch with two hands and pee whenever I feel like it. :) It's easy to see how we take such things for granted, but I won't anymore!
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