What I Am

Greetings! Welcome to the new digs! I hope you enjoy your stay. After much pestering from friends, I've decided to go public with my crazy antics, ridiculous aspirations, and helpful tidbits of information on how to properly be domesticated.

Yesterday, while on the way home from the pharmacy (more on that later), Edie Brickell's "What I Am" came on the radio, and I thought, "Wow, what a perfect thing to ponder for my introductory blog post." So... yeah...here goes!

I am the typical multi-faceted woman. You see many of us walking down the street, perusing library shelves, grabbing a latte at Bucky's (and stashing the receipt in the trash so our significant others don't figure out that we are STILL spending way too much money on coffee), taking kiddos to Story Time at Barnes and Noble (hey, there's a Bucky's! How convenient!), picking up dry cleaning, taking classes, applying a new shade of lipstick... you name it, we're there. We're the career-minded, organizationally gifted, Super Moms and Super Significant Others. Or so it seems. On the outside, we look almost super human. Our hair is brushed, our clothes are not wrinkled, our kids are well-fed, well-dressed, and semi-well-mannered. But how do we do it?

For me, it is having the support of my wonderful fiance and knowing that I am not defined by how clean my kitchen is, how often I get my hair cut (wow, it's been quite a while...), or even how many times I've been promoted. It's finding the short-cuts where you can, but it is also not skimping on things you shouldn't.... like serving take-out on your finest china on a table set nicely with a real table cloth, fresh flowers, and maybe even a candle or two. You don't have to cook, yet you feel like the meal is special because the kid is in bed, and it's just you and your partner, munchin' on some chinese from Master Wok.

The truth is, we get by. We do the best that we can each day, and we've learned to settle for that. Some days it doesn't seem to be enough. Some days, I think to myself, "Gosh, I have about five more things on my to-do list that I really should do before I get to bed." Other days it's, "Today was hella productive! I am THE multi-faceted woman!"

If you look up the word faceted, the all-knowing Google will tell you that a facet is "a tiny surface polished onto a rough diamond that gives a finished diamond its shape. The way light interacts with these facets affects a diamond's brilliance and sparkle."

I think the same is true for women. We're "polished" - domesticated if you will - until we have so many surfaces that it is hard to see them all at once. But if they're polished in just the right fashion, the result is one fabulous diamond of a woman.

Until next time,
-MFW