Gifts and Expectations

I find the holidays trying. It is not the gifts. It's the expectations. For me, it's the expectations of people who are maternal genetic family but strangers in any meaningful way. 

Sadly, creating distance with them usually requires a very firm stance on my part. They rarely seem to hear me. And their expectations of who I am don't match my reality - even the reality of those of you who just follow me here, they've certainly never tried to reach out to know me as one would any stranger in a social setting. It would be a gift for them to just accept me without expectations. It won't happen. They enjoy their expectations. I enjoy the freedom of not dealing with their expectations.

Playground Shapes

Long ago and far away (often in strange cities), I used to moderate focus groups. This meant I was paid to do one of my favorite things - people watch. A focus group is a microcasm of life, and you get to see a variety of personalities merge.

Dating Profiles

I know a single guy who is moving to another city. While he's fairly social, he's been in the same place and near family for a while. Moving somewhere new will mean meeting new people. Some of them female people. I have it on good authority that he's not always great at noticing when women are interested in him*. So, I've suggested on-line dating but there is the problem of creating dating profiles....

*There's a story that his married friends have to tell him when he's being hit on in bars. Clearly this is a man who needs a little help! Given that I'm handy with words, I offered to make him up a few profiles.

(Advance warning - this is an odd entry and may be unsuitable for small children)

Twitter Life

Social media is part of my work life but I have a very different relationship with it in my everyday life. Facebook - meh. Pinterest - take or leave. Twitter - hurray! I love the brevity and immediacy. I love the snippets of people's lives. I love the sharing. I love the inspiration available at my fingertips. I love the news that comes to me with brevity - cuts down on the rhetoric. I love that the topics are as varied as the people. I love that whatever your mood - you can find playmates of like-mind.

Letting Go

Letting go is a process. Some days it's a forward process and some days it's a slippery emotional slope. An article on marriage break-down where I think, "He's a one. I'm a three!" At the vet with the Herd, when the vet tech asks if my handsome husband will be joining me.  A trip to Home Depot to finish off one of the many half-done projects. Any of those trigger the "could have been" about my ex-husband, "Peter" and a crying jag.

Thank You

My favorite thing to do the day after Thanksgiving  - which is my favorite holiday EVER - is to clean the house, decorate with lights, break out the holiday music and write out holiday cards. (Yes, "holiday" cards - Christmas, Solstice, Hanukkah - whatever people choose to celebrate this time of year, I honor.) Somehow, this little post-Thanksgiving ritual sets the whole winter holiday mood for me and has for the last 20 years.

The Sound of Music

Just once I'd like to walk into a room and have the theme for BatGirl play...

Lately I think a lot about different life phases and the music that may accompany them. In TV and movies, music helps set the mood and cues us into the scene expectation. I can think of a lot of situations where that might come in handy.

Funniest Commercial Ever

I love commercials. I have a slew of favorites. A new one just joined the ranks. "Cat Boots" from Temptations. Mostly because - they are cats being fake boots, people!!!