The Black Hole

I am underwater.  Or maybe in a tunnel.  I know there is light above, somewhere, and I want to reach for it, to embrace it, but something holds me back.  I'm groggy.  I feel heavy.  Pulling myself up seems like a Herculean task.

I hear well-meaning voices at the surface.  They call to me with the pull of everyday life - there is grocery shopping to be done.  Laundry to be washed.  Motions to write.  Clients to call.  A child to bathe.  A family to spend time with.  And yet.....they are so far away.  I can't quite reach.

And yet, I cannot fail to do these things. Can I?

And yet.

The 5 Best Decisions I've Ever Made

When I was driving home from work the other day, I thought, as I often do, about how I couldn't wait to see Anna.  And how I hoped she would behave! LOL.  Then I thought about how lucky I am to have her to come home to....and how I never imagined I'd have a kid at home waiting for me.

Now, I've made plenty of stupid, poor, or just plain bad decisions in my life.  And it seems to me that I dwell on them and punish myself for them way more than I dwell on the positive things that have happened for me as a result of decisions I made.  And I'm not sure why.

And that's just sad.

Guess you never know what will happen.....

Thank You for Being a Friend, Part 1: The Hospital

Thank you for being a friend

Traveled down the road and back again

Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant

--Andrew Gold, "Thank You for Being a Friend" 

Well, I can certainly say the past few months have brought with them their share of challenges - but also much joy.  I meant to write this sooner while events were fresher in my mind....but given that I was recovering from surgery and still shrugging off the haze of anesthesia and pain medication, I can't really say they were all that fresh anyway!

I wanted to share this with you, though, because what I went through around the time of my surgery really drove home for me how blessed we are to have such amazing friends in our lives.  People who, when it comes down to it, are more like family than friends.

It's In The Way That You Use It

No, this isn't just one of my favorite Eric Clapton songs. It's something I'm trying to work on in my own life when I try to turn lemons into lemonade. It's advice I would give to a friend, it's something I need to remember for myself, and it's something I need to model for my daughter.

Life throws us a lot of curve balls, and that's putting it mildly. Some of us have more than our fair share of challenges and sorrow. But, no matter what kind of issues we may have - some decidedly beyond our control - the one thing that is NOT beyond our control is the way that we react to them, manage them, accept them, cope with them and maybe, just maybe, better our lives, not in spite of them, but because of them.

It really is in the way that you use it.

Beautiful rainbow (taken 7/1/12)

It's Our Anniversary!

Happy Monday!

I just wanted to start off this new week by noting an important milestone. Yes, Heidi and I are very happy to have celebrated our 7th anniversary on Friday, June 1, and we're really proud of that. But I'm talking about the blog - we have an anniversary too!

June 1, 2011 was the first day I posted anything on My Life With Pie. I had a vision of what I thought the experience might be like, but I never could've imagined then that it would be as fun and as challenging as it's been to maintain this blog. I didn't know whether my words would resonate with people, how large (or small) an audience I'd have, what the response would be, how much material I was capable of generating - it was all a big question mark.

Take It to the Limit

There should be a special reward for parents with kids from the ages of, oh, say two to four.  Because as I've discussed before, the evolving behavioral challenges of the early years don't end with the so-called "terrible twos."  In fact, I found age 2 to be much easier than age 3 is proving to be thus far.

Anna is smarter now, so she's better able to argue and attempt to cajole her way into whatever she wants. She's also developing her own strong-willed personality (which, I think, is hereditary). While I'm glad that this means she will probably become a confident, assertive woman.....it makes the early limit-testing just a wee bit difficult to handle.

Okay, more than a "wee" bit. Sometimes I feel a little nuts.