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And they said we would never last...

I could write a long, mushy post about my marriage to Kevin. Seriously. Don't think I can't. I mean it.

I'd rather give you a glimpse into why our union is so precious.

A few weeks ago, as we were getting ready for bed, I said "I'm worried about Pakistan." Kevin agreed with me and we proceeded to have a 45 minute conversation about tribal versus industrial military conflicts in Pakistan.

I know.

We're friggin weird.

Happy first anniversary my love. I'll never get enough of you but I'm damn sure gonna try.

Quoted

"The true measure of a man's character lies not in how he treats his friends, but in how he treats his enemies."

Jelly Bean

I am not a pet person. There. I said it.

I don't dislike animals. I would never want to see one hurt or abused. I just never understood people who treated animals equal to people. I just didn't get the doggie halloween costumes and car seats and other assorted nonsense that seems to go hand in hand with pets that get treated like children.

Then a funny thing happened. We got a puppy.

Something strange has happened to me. I have fallen in love with a friggin dog. Yeah... I said it. I love this stupid dog.

I love that she runs up the steps and has no idea how to get down.


I love that she goes apes**t bananas at the vet.


I love that she gets excited when the girls wake up.


I love that she smells bad even after she has a bath.


I love that she steps all over her long ears when she walks.


I love that she snores more than me.


And, yeah, I'm getting her a Halloween costume.

Summertime

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I can't adequately explain what a gift this summer was to me. For the last five years, I have had to send my kids to camps I could not afford and they did not like. Or send them to my mom's house each day and listen to their constant whines of boredom. Being a working, single mom was hard but summers were particularly dreadful. My kids were mostly unhappy and I always felt guilty.

But this summer was different. No job for me. No day camp for them. Two months of sleeping late, staying up late and lots and lots of swimming. I have a wonderful husband who has taken the the full financial burden of our giant family. I will always be thankful to him for the gift of this summer.

Quoted

"...you're in the minority. Its SUPPOSED to taste like a shit taco."

Jon Stewart

Quoted

"One day posterity will remember, this strange era, these strange times, when ordinary common honesty was called courage."

Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Book Review

Anita Shreve is one of my favorite contemporary authors. Her novel, Fortune's Rocks, easily lands on my top 10 list. With most great living writers (ie Pat Conroy or John Irving) you will be lucky to get a new book out of them once every five years. Not so with Shreve. She seems to publish a new book every eighteen months. I know that kind of productivity indicates that there may be some Danielle Steele quality to her work. I assure you there is not.

Testimony is (I'm guessing) loosely based upon the Duke rape case that monopolized the news a few years ago. Shreve's story is about a private boarding school and the aftermath of a rape by three drunk teenage boys on a fourteen year old girl. It is told from several different perspectives including the parents of two of the boys and the headmaster of the school.

I think Shreve's genius here is that she takes a really sad story and presents it without melodrama. That is rare as hell these days my friends. Read it.

Quoted

"I hate endings. It's an unforgivable crime for a book I love to suddenly run out of pages."

-Sydera - commenter on Shakespeare's Sister Blog

Katie's Birthday

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