Lots of people say having kids makes you feel young again. I used to think this was sweet; now I realize it was a warning.
Lately nothing makes me feel more like I’ve re-entered junior high than being around other mothers. The ones with four kids who arrive at preschool early, immaculate, in full makeup, with their kids all fed and perfectly groomed. The moms whose 18-month-old is completely potty trained and regularly eats things like lentil stew and spinach salad.
Meanwhile, I lumber out of the car most mornings in my sweatpants and headband, perpetually 15 minutes behind schedule, and do my best to wipe the crumbs off my toddler’s (notice the singular–just the one child) mouth and shove a barrette in her hair. We won’t even get into potty training and the diet heavy on spaghetti, fruit, and peanut-butter sandwiches.
I find myself fighting the urge to start dressing all in black, slink off in a corner and write bad poetry. In other words? It’s 1985 all over again.
I thought I worked through all this in my 20s. That I learned to just live my own life. (And also that people were usually to wrapped up in their own issues to be judging me as much as I thought they were.) What is it about parenthood, well, particularly, motherhood that brings this out in so many people?
Maybe it’s that we realize that no other job is going to be as important, with so much on the line, as this one? I think it tends to bring out raging insecurity. I think I’m even getting pimples again.
Dear certain (numerous) fellow residents of small urban ‘hood which shall remain nameless:
Wearing earbuds and blasting the tunes whilst out jogging/walking the dog/pushing your baby stroller in the street does not make you look cool. It makes you look stupid. This is dangerous. Yes, I am looking out for you, otherwise when you suddenly changed direction nearly colliding with the right side of my car, I would have hit you. Instead, I stopped/swerved/gasped in astonishment. This behavior is idiotic. Stop it. All of you. Right now.
(Or get on the damn sidewalk already, that’s what it’s for.)
Love,
Me
This Eating Down the Fridge week has been very different than the last one. It doesn’t bode well that I’m just getting around to my first post and the week is half over.
This ended up being particularly bad timing for us. The Spouse had a last-minute business trip out of town. (Should make things easier right? Subtract one mouth to feed. And yet … ) I had also forgotten that I was supposed to provide snacks for Kiddo’s preschool class this week.
I started strong out of the gate, doing a big grocery run on Saturday and stocking up on staples. But blew it with two more trips to Publix on Sunday and Monday. (Sunday was the ‘Oh, gosh forgot I have to provide snacks for S’s class all next week’ run and Monday was the ‘No, seriously, snacks *all* of next week’ run.) Then, with friends expected over Monday night and Susana coming down with a cold, I folded completely and ordered Chinese takeout for dinner.
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I can’t believe I lived in Georgia for more than a decade (10 years in Atlanta before we moved to Seoul and three in Columbus before that) and just saw Savannah last week.
It’s one of those places that a history person like me instantly fall in love. A place where the distant past still feels so close, just under the surface of the present day. Things that happened hundreds or even thousands of years ago seem to leave an echo. I’ve felt this way before—during visits to New Orleans and San Antonio. Barcelona, definitely. Seoul is like this, but maybe with not as much immediate charm. (Seoul sort of grows on you and then won’t let go.)
Even if you’re not a history person, Savannah is a beautiful place with lots of lovely things to look, fun things to do, and and delicious things to eat. Barely a four-hour trip from Atlanta, David and I are planning to make this an annual (at least) destination.
Some recommendations based on our recent, two-day visit:
Old Town Savannah Trolley Tours – Susana was up for this even though the whole route is about an hour long. You buy a ticket for the day and can get on and off to visit the different stops. There are lots of trolley tours of the city, but I liked this one because the guides were so funny and knowledgeable. Best bet is to see the whole city once through and then budget your time to visit the things you like the most.
City Market – We had lunch at Anna’s Tapas, which had great food and a staff that was super nice to the Kiddo.
The Pirates’ House – Wonderful seafood and a real authentic pirate’s tale to boot. Ask if you can take the informal tour around the house and check out the tunnel through which—legend holds—inebriated locals were involuntarily volunteered for duty on outgoing vessels.
The Telfair Museum (Owens-Thomas House)
Dolphin Magic – Boats that tour the historic waterfront and go out to visit the Atlantic bottlenose dolphins around Tybee Beach.
I hope to update later with some more pictures, but our external hard drive is on strike (negotiations thus far have been non-productive) and all our photos are archived there.
