Seven random things

Well I guess having two margaritas with dinner after a trip to the dentist is about as good a preparation for writing seven random things as you can get. On the top of my brain lately:

1) I think that The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks is a blog title of sheer genius. My awe of it returns forcefully to the forefront of my consciousness several times a day.

2) Apostrophe Abuse is another good blog title. These are found art of blogs.

3) Howl's Moving Castle is a very good book. And also a good movie. I plan to write a post exploring this in more detail.

4) My oldest daughter is not that much younger than many of my friends who actually are raising children. What's wrong with this picture? (Well, maybe my genes are just late-blooming. Longevity, here we come!)

5) Conversely, I am about the same age as some of my friends' mothers. Yow! Why do they even talk to me?

6) OK, maybe I'm a little drunk. Then again, maybe not.

7) Plus, I'm a big wimp. At least when it comes to things like cleaning the house, running errands, behaving normally in any way. But hey, I can read the pants off just about anyone you care to mention, so ha!

And there you go! Magic number 7. This is fun. I could do this all night. Randomness, I am your queen.

Quick enough turn around time for you, Vivian?

I tag Jennifer, Zelda, and Lesley.

Sky Poem

Oh sun that shines so bright,

So bright

Oh moon that glows,

That glows at night

Oh stars that shine

Just like the moon

That shine across the nighttime sky

Oh birds that fly so high,

So high

Oh birds that fly

Across the sky

by Ziad

My Head Is Going to Explode

I found out recently that a friend of mine is separated from her husband. In the version I heard, it is due to a grand passion she conceived for an associate in a project she had been working on. Now, despite attempts at marriage counselling, she is living in an apartment with the kids, having been asked to resign from the project. The status of her affair is unknown.

This has shaken me tremendously, because even though we're not close, I've known this woman a long time. If anyone had ever asked me, I would have been ready to swear on the religious text of your choosing that something like this would never happen. This is a disciplined, focused woman who sets priorities mercilessly. It would have been somewhat surprising to hear that she had cheated on her husband, but that she would turn her children's lives upside-down in this way is inconceivable to me.

She's been quoted as saying "I've never been in love before this." I can relate to that. I know that my feelings for my husband are a quantum leap away from any feelings I've ever had for other men. But the thing is, I was there when she got married. We were working together at the time she got engaged. And she was, literally, radiantly beautiful. Happiness just glowed out of her. I wasn't the only one who noticed it, either.

Since then, she and her husband had settled into a life together. I've seen them fight, and I've seen them make up. I thought they had a good system in place for working things out, and I've always admired their teamwork. There were long periods when she supported the family while he puttered around with various business plans that never really panned out, but recently he's been the breadwinner while she took care of the kids and poured her heart and soul into the project that ultimately cost her her marriage. So in addition to being surprised that she would let her life turn upside down, I'm also surprised that a match that seemed so strong turned out to be so weak.

And this is all none of my business. It's not like anyone has called me to cry on my shoulder; I heard this all in a roundabout way. I can't get it out of my head though, because these are people that I care about. And when some part of my life that seemed fixed turns out not to be, that shakes me up, too; I guess I'm really very conservative at heart. My heart goes out to my friend and her husband, and to their three children.