Company

There are the kind of guests that make you want to lock them in the house to prevent them from leaving and returning home...you know, the kind that every time they come visit you practically leave real estate listings and job postings on their bed because you want them to move closer to you so badly? The kind that you don't want to share with anyone else for at least 24 hours after their arrival.

And then there are the kind of guests that make 3 days feel like 3 years they've been there for so long. You know, they kind of guests to drink your last beer and leave dirty underwear on your bathroom floor.

The company we had this last weekend was very clearly one of these two kinds of guests...I think I'll let the pictures tell you which one:


So, there were lots of stony silences and no one smiled:

/






She didn't get along with any of my friends and when we went out everyone had to sit at different tables because it was so awkward:








And clearly we were miserable. Miserable I tell you!:




I mean honestly, what does one do with company like that?

Namaste Bitches!

I keep sitting down to write, and start and then get pulled into different directions. It's been a busy couple of weeks, at work, with family and with friends. I have company coming into town tonight(Which I am SO freakin' excited about!), we had Father's Day last week, work has been full of new projects, spreadsheets and clients. I feel our little family has been going every single minute of every day of the last couple of weeks. We finally started a "Family Calendar" because we just couldn't keep track of everything and it is really funny to look at. It's packed! Which, honestly, I love. I love moving like this and doing and seeing and going. But, it's hard to find time for just being in all of it.

Which is one reason I am so excited about the new Yoga class I am taking. The majority of my experience with yoga has been via DVD and a couple of poorly chosen yoga "sessions" at the mega gym that I go to. The "sessions" were a little more "We do YOGA BITCHES!" than I really wanted. Also, at this point, the yoga Will has been learning at school has already surpassed what I know from the DVDs -and let's face it, they are most pregnancy yoga dvds anyway. I have been wanting to learn more, I think it would be good for my hip and also my head. I feel like such a fake midwesterner whenever I start to talk about the psychological benefits of meditation, but whatever. My parents already make fun of me for that and the tofu that I now eat, so be it.

This class though? It is fantastic. Where the one at the mega gym was all "FEEL the BURN! How deep can you STRETCH?!?" shouted over a headset with music pumping, this was more like being gently placed in a warm bathtub of happiness and lavender scented oils and maybe there being some movement involved. Needless to say, it was great experience and I can't wait to go back. Two interesting observations: 1) Despite feeling like my heart rate actually lowered for an hour and a half and that all I had done was some gentle stretching, the next morning I totally felt like I got my ass kicked, so that was cool. and b) It is REALLY hard for me to meditate for 5 minutes. I was doing beginner level where all I had to do was focus on my breathing...I'm a singer, I should totally be able to do that. It's kind of sad that how hard it really is to get your mind to slow down for just 5 minutes out of your day. I have GOT to work on that.

Milestones

Just for a little background. I was born with a congenital hip disorder. Before I turned 1 Doctors took all sorts of extraordinary measures including traction and surgery to hopefully allow me the possibility of walking. It worked well and I walked, and ran and danced and did all the things that a kid with "normal" joints can do. At first, they told my parents that by the time I was 16 I would need to have my entire hip replaced. At 16 I was performing in a show choir and doing musicals and the only problem that seemed evident was that my knee would get a little bit sore and I really wasn't very flexible (I only have about 10% lateral movement in my hip due to the surgery). Then they said I would probably need it replaced in my early 20's. I entered my 20's and was soon working retail (on my feet all day), was waitressing and bartending. Again, I would get a little stiff in the joints but it wasn't something I really thought about every day. Honestly, I think I got a little cocky about it all and didn't take very good care. I mean I knew that things were not really all ok in my hip, but I don't think I KNEW how much I was working that joint on borrowed time.

At 23 my hip started dislocating and within a year the arthritis had deteriorated my hip to the point that I could not leave the house without using a cane. I could barely go grocery shopping without the pain setting me out for the rest of the day. There was daily, chronic, pain and then there was the kind of pain that made me feel like I was 80 and my body had completely given out on me. I couldn't even tie my shoes on my own.

I went in to see a specialist who was...cold. Now, I am not looking to make lifelong friends with my Doctors, but this guy was tough. He told me if I wanted to have children I should think about doing it before they replaced my hip. He also told me that there wasn't anything to be done except to replace it and that I would never be normal again. And to come back when I couldn't handle the pain any more. Now again, I am not trying to run a marathon here folks, I just wanted to tie my shoes and buy milk. So I asked if I could go to Physical Therapy...he said if it would make me feel better, sure but it wouldn't do really any good. Thanks, thank you for that.

One thing that terrified me about having children is the age that Will is at now, and my lack of ability to keep up physically. There were things I wanted to do as a parent that I would not be able to do if I couldn't walk through Target without having to get off my feet for a couple of hours afterwards. If there was nothing to be done than there was nothing to be done...it's not like it was going to make me any less of parent if I couldn't do those things. But I just didn't think that I had exhausted ALL of my options yet, and I really wanted to keep working on this.

So I went to Physical Therapy, and I worked my ass off for two years.

The arthritis in my hip is worse than it was 5 years ago. It will continue to deteriorate and I will need to have my hip replaced at some point in the future. I am in pain every day. But thanks to that physical therapy, the pain is less and I am not a candidate for surgery at this time. I have not used a cane in almost 5 years. I can tie my shoes without help, and go to as many grocery stores in a day as I want. I have dance parties with my son and can carry him through the zoo...all things I was worried I would not be able to do at this point.

And a couple of weekends ago, with a bunch of our friends, Dan took Will and I on our first camping trip . We went for long walks in the woods and threw rocks in the river together. It was awesome and we both loved it. These may seem like little things, but it feels like a milestone to me.

What's on your Table?

Time recently published a photo essay from the book "Hungry Planet" where it shows ALL the food that 15 different families eat in a week. What they've eaten out, what they cooked, what they got out of a package...everything. It's fascinating, and a little depressing. Seeing what some families exist on compared to others is very telling. Also interesting is the lack of fresh, unprocessed food in the diets of some of the families in more developed nations. We try to eat reasonably healthy in our house, especially since Will has been eating real food, but I realized I can't really picture what our table would look like. Can you?

Check it out: What the world eats.