The Once A Week Blogger!
Yes, it seems that I can manage about once a week. Oh well.
So, the anxiety is much more managable this last week. I know it's temporary, though. I need to ask my doc about it, and I will eventually. Just not this week.
Last weekend, I took my good friend Shana--the woman who used to be married to my ex's brother--and her son Harvest with me and the kids to Columbia to visit Alex. How did life get so complex? Technically, I am Harvest's aunt because when he was born, I was married to his father's brother. But I'm not married to that man anymore. Still, I don't want to NOT be an aunt, so I am. He's my nephew. That won't change. But then what about Alex? Is he uncle number two? Shana navigated that one after she saw how stellarly Alex treated Harvest: definitely that's Uncle Alex. My kids have no desire to stop calling Shana "Aunt Shana" because she's always been their aunt, and the separation just happened in Sept. anyway. Harvest is their cousin forever regardless. Ug. What a pain to figure out what each of us is to the other now! I guess it all boils down to that we love each other. And that's that.
Alex has a good sense of what women need. He realized before Shana came to visit that, as a newly scarred woman in a just-crushed long term relationship, she would need to vent. He also realized she needed to vent away from her son. So, he shipped us off to Gervais and Vine to have wine and tapas while he tended all three children. There was little I could do to make up for that gallantry other than make his favorite chocolate pie and bring it to him as a reward. Well...there's obviously other stuff, but since Shana had to sleep in our room, that didn't really work out :)We had a blast, and Operation Spoil Shana worked out splendidly. It's funny to me how Alex gets even more excited than I do that we are making her feel relaxed and happy. I mean, she's MY close friend since 1993! He didn't meet her that long ago. Yet, he's grinning as he makes her sit down and fetches her son what he needs. God I love that man.
See, he's not spineless. He's not a weak man who lets others walk all over him, nor a slave. He just...is selfless. There's a huge difference. He LOVES helping other people. This is the man who listened carefully to my stories of how I felt one of my neighbors was overwhelmed as a very, very young single mother of two small children. Then, as a result of knowing her situation, he started carrying her garbage to the dumpster (a bit of a walk from our building) whenever she left it outside her door. She has no idea it's my husband who does that for her. All she knows is that some kind soul takes her trash for her and helps her out. He doesn't do it for the attention...he does it because he genuinely loves feeling needed. It's been really weird--but the good kind of weird--to adjust to a man like Alex. I'll never take him for granted.
So we did tag-team spoiling of Shana, and it worked. It's been a long time since I've seen her so together, happy, and whole.
Classes are going well, although I'm already slammed with papers to review this week. Bleh. After hearing about lecturers who are not being reappointed or are having some secondary evaluations being made to see if they should be evaluated, I am feeling much more blessed to have my reappointment letters.
iPods rock. Just for the record.
Oh, and the last bit of news: Radioactive Cat is 100% better! YAY! We just got the thyroid test results back this week. Indeed, what is there to feel anxiety about? Life is good.
So, the anxiety is much more managable this last week. I know it's temporary, though. I need to ask my doc about it, and I will eventually. Just not this week.
Last weekend, I took my good friend Shana--the woman who used to be married to my ex's brother--and her son Harvest with me and the kids to Columbia to visit Alex. How did life get so complex? Technically, I am Harvest's aunt because when he was born, I was married to his father's brother. But I'm not married to that man anymore. Still, I don't want to NOT be an aunt, so I am. He's my nephew. That won't change. But then what about Alex? Is he uncle number two? Shana navigated that one after she saw how stellarly Alex treated Harvest: definitely that's Uncle Alex. My kids have no desire to stop calling Shana "Aunt Shana" because she's always been their aunt, and the separation just happened in Sept. anyway. Harvest is their cousin forever regardless. Ug. What a pain to figure out what each of us is to the other now! I guess it all boils down to that we love each other. And that's that.
Alex has a good sense of what women need. He realized before Shana came to visit that, as a newly scarred woman in a just-crushed long term relationship, she would need to vent. He also realized she needed to vent away from her son. So, he shipped us off to Gervais and Vine to have wine and tapas while he tended all three children. There was little I could do to make up for that gallantry other than make his favorite chocolate pie and bring it to him as a reward. Well...there's obviously other stuff, but since Shana had to sleep in our room, that didn't really work out :)We had a blast, and Operation Spoil Shana worked out splendidly. It's funny to me how Alex gets even more excited than I do that we are making her feel relaxed and happy. I mean, she's MY close friend since 1993! He didn't meet her that long ago. Yet, he's grinning as he makes her sit down and fetches her son what he needs. God I love that man.
See, he's not spineless. He's not a weak man who lets others walk all over him, nor a slave. He just...is selfless. There's a huge difference. He LOVES helping other people. This is the man who listened carefully to my stories of how I felt one of my neighbors was overwhelmed as a very, very young single mother of two small children. Then, as a result of knowing her situation, he started carrying her garbage to the dumpster (a bit of a walk from our building) whenever she left it outside her door. She has no idea it's my husband who does that for her. All she knows is that some kind soul takes her trash for her and helps her out. He doesn't do it for the attention...he does it because he genuinely loves feeling needed. It's been really weird--but the good kind of weird--to adjust to a man like Alex. I'll never take him for granted.
So we did tag-team spoiling of Shana, and it worked. It's been a long time since I've seen her so together, happy, and whole.
Classes are going well, although I'm already slammed with papers to review this week. Bleh. After hearing about lecturers who are not being reappointed or are having some secondary evaluations being made to see if they should be evaluated, I am feeling much more blessed to have my reappointment letters.
iPods rock. Just for the record.
Oh, and the last bit of news: Radioactive Cat is 100% better! YAY! We just got the thyroid test results back this week. Indeed, what is there to feel anxiety about? Life is good.