I can't keep the secret any longer.
I'm going to be a mom!!!
Today I'm 12 weeks pregnant, the point at which miscarriage risk drops dramatically. God really has a sense of humor because my due date is in mid-August! I'm already getting a lot of ribbing about the misfortune of being enormous during the hottest months of the year. Frankly, after 18 months of trying to start a family, we are thrilled to become parents at all.
What's even more ironic is that we conceived between my first and second visits to the fertility specialist. At the second visit, he diagnosed me with an incurable endocrine disorder and said I needed drugs. Little did he know, God had other plans. No drugs were necessary. I joked with him about this at a January appointment when we had the first ultrasound. He said, "maybe you just needed a deadline." Is being an editor that ingrained in me??
1.30.2002
1.29.2002
What a gorgeous day it is in Philadelphia! It's sunny and in the mid-60s. I actually ate a lovely picnic lunch in Washington Square Park (catty-corner from Independence Hall), soaked up some rays and read a few chapters of Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. Hard to believe it's January in the northeast. Surely we're doomed for a major blizzard come March, just like in 1993.
1.25.2002
Well, this is a bit embarrassing to talk about, but it seems my 19-year-old nephew, a Grove City student, has gotten his girlfriend "in trouble." The shotgun wedding is slated for early March in California. They plan to begin college again in the fall at a new school.
What baffles me is this: he was raised overseas by missionary parents and even went though the special ceremony that 15-year-olds have in Latino churches. At this ceremony, the teen puts on a wedding band and promises chastity until marriage.
His older sister also fell into marriage very young. She dropped out of college after 1 semester in the US and ran back to Guatemala to marry a young man from her church. They had a baby about 15 months later.
So what is going on here? Are these kids just dealing with culture shock--choosing the Latino life of early marriage, or is it something else propelling them to marry so young? One of my sisters-in-law thinks that the whole chastity ceremony and constant talk about of sexual purity gives kids an inflated idea of how great sex is. (It's nice, but not the be-all and end-all of our existance as the media would have us believe.) She compared it to how some teetotaling families end up pushing their kids to drink by making alcohol so incredibly taboo that they are compelled to find out about it.
She might have something there. Wisdom and balance are really important in steering kids to make right choices.
What baffles me is this: he was raised overseas by missionary parents and even went though the special ceremony that 15-year-olds have in Latino churches. At this ceremony, the teen puts on a wedding band and promises chastity until marriage.
His older sister also fell into marriage very young. She dropped out of college after 1 semester in the US and ran back to Guatemala to marry a young man from her church. They had a baby about 15 months later.
So what is going on here? Are these kids just dealing with culture shock--choosing the Latino life of early marriage, or is it something else propelling them to marry so young? One of my sisters-in-law thinks that the whole chastity ceremony and constant talk about of sexual purity gives kids an inflated idea of how great sex is. (It's nice, but not the be-all and end-all of our existance as the media would have us believe.) She compared it to how some teetotaling families end up pushing their kids to drink by making alcohol so incredibly taboo that they are compelled to find out about it.
She might have something there. Wisdom and balance are really important in steering kids to make right choices.
1.22.2002
I stayed up past midnight on Friday to finish volume II of Susan Howatch's The Wheel of Fortune. I was totally shocked to discover at the end that the story is roughly a modernization of the stories of family intrigue among characters from the Henriad (Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V and some of their predecessors). I should have caught on that the final father-son pair were both Henrys that went by Harry and Hal, respectively. Doh! I know I would have gotten even more out of the books had I known about the historical connection.
I was so pleased to see that Howatch's interest in Christianity comes out in the second volume. The Wheel of Fortune precedes Glittering Images by only a few years, and the continuity of thought is clear. Two of the big themes from the Starbridge novels are here in spades--first, that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, and second, that living behind a mask poisons people spiritually and emotionally. Also, several key characters experience conversions and work for redemption in the badly broken-down family.
The next book on my list is also a sequel. It's Children of God by Mary Doria Russel. It and The Sparrow were originally intended to be published as a single book, but the publisher had qualms about an 800-page first novel, so the book was split in half. Knowing this, I decided to wait to give my impressions of The Sparrow until I've read the work as the whole unit the author intended. If you've never heard of the books, they're sci-fi about a group of Jesuits and lay people that make first contact with an alien species in order to establish a mission on the planet. It's no ordinary missionary story, that's for sure!
I was so pleased to see that Howatch's interest in Christianity comes out in the second volume. The Wheel of Fortune precedes Glittering Images by only a few years, and the continuity of thought is clear. Two of the big themes from the Starbridge novels are here in spades--first, that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, and second, that living behind a mask poisons people spiritually and emotionally. Also, several key characters experience conversions and work for redemption in the badly broken-down family.
The next book on my list is also a sequel. It's Children of God by Mary Doria Russel. It and The Sparrow were originally intended to be published as a single book, but the publisher had qualms about an 800-page first novel, so the book was split in half. Knowing this, I decided to wait to give my impressions of The Sparrow until I've read the work as the whole unit the author intended. If you've never heard of the books, they're sci-fi about a group of Jesuits and lay people that make first contact with an alien species in order to establish a mission on the planet. It's no ordinary missionary story, that's for sure!
1.16.2002
Here's an interesting idea I found in Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson:
"This is my Lost Property Cupboard theory of the afterlife--when we die, we are taken to a great Lost Property Cupboard where all the things we have ever lost have been kept for us....all the library books, all the cats that never came back...and perhaps, too, the other less tangible things--tempers and patience...and oceans of time."
What would you find in your metaphysical lost property cupboard? Here are a few of the contents of mine:
The squeaker for my rubber duckie, several very hypnotic marbles, the knight to my Fisher-Price castle, 7 kittens, my cats Tyler the ginger cat and Misty the tabby, the turtle I nursed back to health, several beach towels, a clip-on koala and rabbit, a Rubic's-cube keychain, a gross or more buttons, two ascots to my band uniform, a pair of brass mallets, 6 or 7 pebble-palm gloves (also to band uniform), My regional choir medal, the one and only oil painting I did in high school art class, negatives from the 8 rolls of film I shot in Ireland in 1985, Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, a mug with a quarter-note-shaped handle, $60+ owed by college roommates for phone bills, an Oneida stainless steel cake server, 4,679 bobby pins, 35 mateless earrings, and 485 mateless socks and knee-highs.
And the intangibles....a sense of invulnerability, a love of wearing leotards, an attachment to my yellow blanket, the fear of driving, the fear of seatbelts (once trapped in a car after an accident, but I got over it), the desire to beat my big brother at something, my naivete about men, a great deal of temper, and several years' time.
"This is my Lost Property Cupboard theory of the afterlife--when we die, we are taken to a great Lost Property Cupboard where all the things we have ever lost have been kept for us....all the library books, all the cats that never came back...and perhaps, too, the other less tangible things--tempers and patience...and oceans of time."
What would you find in your metaphysical lost property cupboard? Here are a few of the contents of mine:
The squeaker for my rubber duckie, several very hypnotic marbles, the knight to my Fisher-Price castle, 7 kittens, my cats Tyler the ginger cat and Misty the tabby, the turtle I nursed back to health, several beach towels, a clip-on koala and rabbit, a Rubic's-cube keychain, a gross or more buttons, two ascots to my band uniform, a pair of brass mallets, 6 or 7 pebble-palm gloves (also to band uniform), My regional choir medal, the one and only oil painting I did in high school art class, negatives from the 8 rolls of film I shot in Ireland in 1985, Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, a mug with a quarter-note-shaped handle, $60+ owed by college roommates for phone bills, an Oneida stainless steel cake server, 4,679 bobby pins, 35 mateless earrings, and 485 mateless socks and knee-highs.
And the intangibles....a sense of invulnerability, a love of wearing leotards, an attachment to my yellow blanket, the fear of driving, the fear of seatbelts (once trapped in a car after an accident, but I got over it), the desire to beat my big brother at something, my naivete about men, a great deal of temper, and several years' time.
1.09.2002
Yes, I'm still alive and kicking! Holiday time got busy, busy, busy with dinner guests on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th. In the midst of all that we had to pack for a two-week vacation to see some of my family. Whew!
The trip was a good one overall. We had a nice time with my closest-in-age brother and his family in Virginia. Taught my nephew to make balloon animals, built lots of stuff with Legos, played a little soccer and even some Barbies with my niece. My sister-in-law was down with the same flu that knocked me flat in early December, so we didn't see much of her.
Next we spent a few days exploring Savannah, Ga. I'd read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil last spring in a book group, so that kind of colored my view of the city as a place with a well-hidden dark underbelly. I think the Spanish moss does a lot to perpetuate the creepy feeling. Very "Fall of the House of Usher." Ironically, the big exhibit at Savannah's art gallery was Philadelphia-area artist Andrew Wyeth. No escape from Pennsylvania, I guess. Great exhibit, though, with many pieces he's painted of his African-American neighbors. One of my favorites was a reclining nude young woman--her silky brown skin just glows. Really lovely.
Next we spent about 5 days with my parents in south Florida. It was cool and rainy several of the days, but still far warmer than in Philly! While my mom had led me to believe Dad is at death's door, I was relieved to see that he's doing quite well. He still tires out easily (heart condition) and gets confused and upset (Alzheimer's), but he still has many enthusiasms and seemed to enjoy catching up with Joel and I. While there, we hunted for seashells on Sanibel Island and also toured the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.
Heading north proved more of a challenge than we expected. The one thing you never want to happen did indeed happen--snow in the South. For three inches of snow, South Carolina declared "a state of emergency" and called in the national guard. This seemed laughable to us until we tried to drive there. They have no snow plows and no salt. Every bridge is a death trap. Our 13 hour drive to my brother Tom's house took us 17.5 hours spread over two days. Traffic jams due to accidents led us to give up and bed down at a hotel the first night. The next morning was the scariest ride of my life. I just prayed we'd make it out of S.C. alive. We counted 29 vehicles slid off the road, plus a multitude of cleared accident scenes with skid marks and broken glass. Joel did great on the slick roads and got us the heck outta there.
It was sad we were cheated out of some time with my wonderful college-aged nieces. Meg's nearly finished teacher's training after earning a BA in English, and Jill's a freshman studying history and poli sci. She wants to be a diplomat for Canada (where they were born and raised until my sister-in-law got her PhD and a teaching job in the States). I've never met such bright, articulate, self-assured, affectionate kids. I'm hoping my brother and SIL will share all of their secrets of successful child-rearing with us when our time comes.
We got home on Jan 5th only to discover our housesitter was knocked flat with stomach flu (and Keats the kitten went from 4 lbs to 6 lbs in our absence and is now a lean, mean mischief machine). It was a big scramble to try to de-germ the house, but alas Joel caught it anyway. So, our house is a disaster area, we haven't unpacked yet, Joel is dragging around and I have a head cold (achoo!). I think we need a vacation from vacation!
The trip was a good one overall. We had a nice time with my closest-in-age brother and his family in Virginia. Taught my nephew to make balloon animals, built lots of stuff with Legos, played a little soccer and even some Barbies with my niece. My sister-in-law was down with the same flu that knocked me flat in early December, so we didn't see much of her.
Next we spent a few days exploring Savannah, Ga. I'd read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil last spring in a book group, so that kind of colored my view of the city as a place with a well-hidden dark underbelly. I think the Spanish moss does a lot to perpetuate the creepy feeling. Very "Fall of the House of Usher." Ironically, the big exhibit at Savannah's art gallery was Philadelphia-area artist Andrew Wyeth. No escape from Pennsylvania, I guess. Great exhibit, though, with many pieces he's painted of his African-American neighbors. One of my favorites was a reclining nude young woman--her silky brown skin just glows. Really lovely.
Next we spent about 5 days with my parents in south Florida. It was cool and rainy several of the days, but still far warmer than in Philly! While my mom had led me to believe Dad is at death's door, I was relieved to see that he's doing quite well. He still tires out easily (heart condition) and gets confused and upset (Alzheimer's), but he still has many enthusiasms and seemed to enjoy catching up with Joel and I. While there, we hunted for seashells on Sanibel Island and also toured the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.
Heading north proved more of a challenge than we expected. The one thing you never want to happen did indeed happen--snow in the South. For three inches of snow, South Carolina declared "a state of emergency" and called in the national guard. This seemed laughable to us until we tried to drive there. They have no snow plows and no salt. Every bridge is a death trap. Our 13 hour drive to my brother Tom's house took us 17.5 hours spread over two days. Traffic jams due to accidents led us to give up and bed down at a hotel the first night. The next morning was the scariest ride of my life. I just prayed we'd make it out of S.C. alive. We counted 29 vehicles slid off the road, plus a multitude of cleared accident scenes with skid marks and broken glass. Joel did great on the slick roads and got us the heck outta there.
It was sad we were cheated out of some time with my wonderful college-aged nieces. Meg's nearly finished teacher's training after earning a BA in English, and Jill's a freshman studying history and poli sci. She wants to be a diplomat for Canada (where they were born and raised until my sister-in-law got her PhD and a teaching job in the States). I've never met such bright, articulate, self-assured, affectionate kids. I'm hoping my brother and SIL will share all of their secrets of successful child-rearing with us when our time comes.
We got home on Jan 5th only to discover our housesitter was knocked flat with stomach flu (and Keats the kitten went from 4 lbs to 6 lbs in our absence and is now a lean, mean mischief machine). It was a big scramble to try to de-germ the house, but alas Joel caught it anyway. So, our house is a disaster area, we haven't unpacked yet, Joel is dragging around and I have a head cold (achoo!). I think we need a vacation from vacation!
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