Proof that life is good

Cirrus and Snuggles the Hedgehog.

Us in Central Park.

Monkeyboy at the International Beer Festival in Brussels.

Fathers and Sons

Someimes I will look over at my husband and I feel like I am looking at him for the first time. He'll be sitting on the couch or laying in bed and I will honestly think, "Who is this man in my house?" It could be due to an odd expression on his face or to something he has just said that catches me off-guard, but sometimes it's just random, and it can be quite terrifying.
It happened this weekend.
We had taken our parents to the Museum of Natural History and Michael had wandered off, like he tends to do when he is bored, and I had been left to entertain the Mothers. Well, he had ventured down a set of stairs to see the whale fighting the squid exhibit and his dad had wandered down behind him. As I stood at the balcony looking down for him I saw his dad on one side of the room, standing with his hands behind his back slowly rocking from his heels to his toes looking at some fish exhibit. But the thing is, I wasn't seeing Jesse, my lovable father-in-law, I was seeing Michael, 20 years from now. So, when I looked across the room and saw a younger version of the same man standing in the same pose rocking slowly back and forth, I didn't recognize him. And when he turned around and started to walk towards me, it caught my breath. I felt trapped in a weird place where time overlaps. I didn't recognize my husband of today but I saw the man that he is destined to become.
When I finally realized what was going on I couldn't help but smile.
See, Jesse is one of those men that you can't help but love. He's hard-working, laid-back, and a true adventurer at heart; and he loves his family with every ounce of his being. If my husband contains even one molecule of his genes then I am truly a blessed woman.
Lately, I will admit, I have wondered about us and about whether or not we will survive this test called life together. We've been faced with so many challenges that it's hard to sometimes remember that we are stronger together than we are apart, and we're both so stubborn... But this weekend I think I got the long awaited sign I've been looking for.
When I saw Jesse, I saw Michael. It may have been the first time I really saw him. And he is a good man, just like his father, he is a good man.

Shoot me now

One mother, two inlaws, two dogs, one husband, and one cat... 700 square feet... 80 degrees in NYC... no AC... three whole days... What the HELL was I thinking?
If I manage to survive the weekend then I will never doubt the presence of a higher power again because it will take a God to get us all through the next few days without any death or serious injury.

Being a good sister is hard sometimes

My sister is pregnant. Again. Not the married, mother of three, but my very single 30-year-old-not-even-a-boyfriend-completely-mentally-unstable-sister. This is her second pregnancy, but it will be her first child...
She was on birth control...He wore a condom...
Meanwhile, Michael and I have been trying for over a year now and we've had nary a scare of impregnation.
Not that I'm not excited for her (did I mention she lives with her best friend? She doesn't even have a place of her own!). No, really, I am excited.
The last time this happened she really struggled, and at the time she made a tough decision that was right for her at the time, and then she grieved for over a year. When my other sister got pregnant with her third child, she really broke down. In fact, we all worried about whether she would make it to another day.
Then yesterday she called with the news.
I pulled out the book again, "What to Expect When You're Expecting." I thought I would be reading it for me, but I will read it for her. And I will try to support her and be there for her and not be jealous. And I will try to not think about why two loving, financially independent people can't get pregnant but my sweet, but crazy, sister seems to be the most fertile woman on the planet. And I will try to remember that I have other things going for me right now...And I will snuggle with my own babies, furry angels that they are... And I will try not to get mad when she steals my baby's name... And I will love and coo over Baby Lucy when she comes into this sometimes unfair world on December 10.