Oh, I have been remiss. Daily (daily, I tell ya!), I have had "dust off blog" on the very tippy-top of my to-do list. Between an bit of blog burnout and starting my new job I haven’t written lately, you may just call me the Sharp Slacker. But here I am, so let’s get to it.
I get emails and IMs from people wondering if I dropped dead. I assure I haven’t. My ghost isn’t scheduled to take over my blog for several years yet. So, what have I been up to? Well, I’ve been having more fun than any person should ever be allowed. Let’s see…where to start?
My kids are teenagers now…
No, not really. I don’t dare peek at my blog page to see when I last posted for fear of feeling shame but I know at least one of my boys has had a birthday since we last talked. Son Two turned seven. Yes, my babies are growing up. They are now interested in Tomagochis, X-Box and cootie-infested girls. Oh, and I’m considering getting the collective bunch a cell phone since their social lives are busier than mine (I don’t have a land line, techno-geek that I am).
My job is so much fun that I now pay them for the privilege of working there. Or at least I would if they asked. Or not. Seriously, it’s the best job I’ve ever had. Last time I said as much on the blog, I was still in the honeymoon phase so it was to be expected. Five months into it, however, I like it even more than I did then. My co-workers are hysterically funny and such a pleasure to be around that I’d like to tattoo their names on my posterior.
My boss is a completely hilarious goofball who lives in a permanently hyper-manic state. He is so outrageously creative and driven that I sometimes get work-related emails from him at 2 a.m. only to find him sitting at his desk six hours later, slurping coffee and acting as if he’d slept like log for 18 hours. He lets me be as creative as I want to be, gives me nearly complete autonomy to do my own thing and trusts my judgment. He is more of a quasi-boss, setting the goal and letting us get there in whatever way works for us. When he needs to make changes to our work, he discusses it with us instead of hauling out an ax and chopping limbs off our projects. But mostly I like him because he promoted me.
There are two branches of our company and I’ve been offered the opportunity to more or less oversee one of them. Beginning as soon as next week, I’ll be working out of a different office – get this – the one on the beach. Yep, really, the beach is thisclose to the office. Woo! This will be one hell of a summer. The first thing I have to do is make sure I know how to get sand out of a laptop.
Folks, I don’t have the words to tell you how terrific things are going for me. It’s not all peaches, of course: Son One has elevated whining to an art form (though a dear friend with more boy experience than I told me this week, it’s a normal 8-year-old thing). I still have a brain-damaged dog who, as Mean Teacher so eloquently put it, follows me around so closely that he will come back in his next life as a suppository. My housekeeping has become so slovenly that we have hired a maid. My laundry room is a mountain of clothes (clean, yes, but still) that never seems to end. I sometimes have to miss opportunities to help in the kids’ classrooms. I mean, life is not perfect, but that’s fine, it seldom is and, besides, what fun would that be? If piled up laundry and dusty furniture is the price I have to pay to for being able to do what I love, then bring it on.
I’ve been a mother for eight years now (what???? no…wow). I’ve been a writer for, um, ever. I’ve been a working-stiff since I was 14 (with a couple years off when the kids were wee ones). I’ve been in relationships for…let’s go with "many years", mmmmkay? I’m going to be 38 years old this year. Finally, everything has come together for me. All the crackpipe dreams I’ve had that I figured would never come true (great job, great kids, great home life, great house, excellent car), have finally clicked.
I feel like a new person with a new chance at life. In December, I found a lump in my breast (did I tell you about that?). I turned out to be benign but, god, it was a terrifying experience. As people do, I sat in the waiting room of the mammography clinic bargaining that if everything would turn out okay, I would do all I could to enjoy my life as well as anything I could to enrich the lives of the people I care about. I am truly the happiest I have ever been and I think know I am the luckiest person on earth.
Are you nauseous yet? All right, I’m done chirping.
One thing that’s been woefully lacking in my life, though, is blogging. I love, love, love it and know that I really need the time I spend writing here. It’s my version of a day spa, it rejuvenates me. Besides, who else would I tell about my recent plane trip to Chicago? It was a pip.
But that’s for my next post. Right now I have to round everyone up and get to work. It’s really great to be there. And here.
You know you’ve got it made when you’ve got a maid. Life sounds good, and I’m glad you are appreciating it/