I’m in a bit of a post-holiday stupor right now. Doing nothing
for two weeks does that to me. Over the past couple of weeks I saw
a number of movies and read a few books and played Everquest until
two in the morning a few times.
I’m in a bit of a post-holiday stupor right now. Doing nothing for two weeks does that to me. Over the past couple of weeks I saw a number of movies and read a few books and played Everquest until two in the morning a few times. Each night I kissed the kids good night and begged them to go to bed before dawn. It was a good stretch of down time for my family.
I made a few personal New Year resolutions, none of which involve stockpiling anything containing ephedra. In 2003, I got angry at the Catholic Church, not St. Mary’s Parish, but the church hierarchy. I found myself losing patience waiting for the Catholic church to deal with the clergy sex abuse scandal. Then I read the book “The Magdalene” and got infuriated all over again.
If it were not for the church continually being right on social justice issues, I would have thrown in the towel. So this year, I will devote myself to resolving my personal inner conflict between my faith in God, which does not waver, and my faith in the Catholic Church, which is shaky at best.
As I start this new year, I wanted to comment on Kelly Barbazette’s columns. She writes so lovingly about her daughter, and I really enjoy reading about all of Emma’s firsts. As a reader, it is hard to believe that Emma will be turning one soon. Weren’t those pregnancy columns just a few weeks ago? How fortunate Kelly’s daughter is to have a written record of her early years. Everything Kelly writes reminds me of how I felt when my first child was born.
Carly, my oldest, was the first baby in the lives of our circle of friends.
Nick and I would go to parties with Carly in tow, and she reveled in the attention. She started dining out when she was two weeks old, and was almost always a pleasant customer. She was sophisticated at an early age. I wish I had written it all down, because there was so much to write. It seems like only yesterday that I watched Carly transition from her red tricycle to her “big girl bike” while I stood sobbing in the aisle at Kids R Us.
I thought that no child could measure up to Carly, she being the gold standard and all, and then Daniel was born. I was relieved to find out that I could love a second child as much as the first.
Daniel has kept me hopping over the years. He is nothing like his older sister, although they both turned out to be musically talented. He is eager to grow up and start dating, although he still has lots of time to think about that. I worry about him most, because I know my girls can handle anything that comes along. Daniel wears his heart on his sleeve, and one day some yet-to-be-named girl is going to break his heart, and a little bit of mine in the process.
When Daniel was 10 months old, he started to walk and I finally got to enjoy my first cocktail in over a year. My husband saw an opportunity there, and three weeks later I found out that I was pregnant again. My third child, Kimberly is a total joy. She is the kind of person every day that I aspire to be on my best days. She is young and small, but a wise soul, and I couldn’t begin to predict what her future holds. The sky is the limit for her, and I enjoy watching her change from a little girl to a wonderful young lady.
What Kelly is finding out now is what all parents come to know as the years go by. Time flies, it is here and then gone. Kelly will wake up in what seems like a week, and Emma will be borrowing her good shoes. It doesn’t seem possible, but I can attest that it happens in the blink of an eye. In 2004, I hope Emma has a good year, and I hope Kelly keeps writing it all down for us.
