For Crying Out Loud

Another Photobooth addict is born. . . .

Wow! you look wonderful maman! I'm so jealous that you get to go out on the town. Right now, Kristen and I get to Stay in and Study. How wonderful for having been married for a week;)

Linda called yesterday to ask how things are going. Kristen said something to the effect of, "Blissfully," and I think she wanted to add, "How else did you think that they'd be going? Horribly?"

As someone who has been married for a wee bit, I appreciate people asking. Our society has not been built to help people in their marriages. As you will probably notice as you go, it is really nice to have some other couples around who've been married about as long as you have - they'll help you keep it real about your own marriage. I really appreciated our friendship with Amina and Whitney for that reason in Columbus, for example.

Well, I didn't actually successfully make it out for the whole outing. I went out and stayed for part one of three, then had Cindy bring me home. I get so excited about going out that I tend to over estimate how well I am doing. Oh, well. As long as I keep getting stronger and stronger.

Ma, you look splendid.
Mensch- I totally found that question bizarre, unthoughtful, and nosey. It comes out in the same way that 'how are you doing' is said. How are you? how's life work just fine for me. I'm glad to hear that you are happy.

Rae, I feel you there. Most people who ask us that question just want to hear someone tell them that life is absolutely fantastic and they couldn't be happier to be alive. I suspect that, under different circumstances, there might be other motivations for asking a question that could be overly intrusive if, indeed, things are not excessively rosy. Generally, I don't ask people questions like, "How are you feeling?" or "How are you doing?" or anything that could potentially have a long emotional response unless I'm willing to sit down, listen, and empathize with them when they say, "I feel terrible, I drank too much last night, thought about attempting suicide when my lover left me at a party for someone else, and now my car's not working. Here, let me tell you all about my experience because, really, I've been waiting for someone to unload all of these heavy burdens onto."

Maman! Hooray, one of three is great. At the wedding we were pretty sure that you wouldn't make it to pictures. You were such a trooper. I know that you were there longer than you really felt you could manage. thank you for such a sacrifice.

Merry had to drag me away. I would have stayed even longer than I should have if she had not been watching over me. I do tend to want to more than I should. Sigh. I hope I catch up to myself.

Oh, I'm sorry Mendon, considering Linda is Kristen's mother I thought she would be someone who would fit into the "people who care" category when asking those types of questions.

You look terrific, even better than the wedding weekend! I am so relieved that you are feeling well enough to get out on the town, even if it was for a short time. I just wanted to thank you and the Dornbrook family for welcoming me at your home. You all have a lovely home and family, and it was a great pleasure to meet the rest of the gang.

My momma certainly is someone who cares. I think that Mendon had gone on to refer to all those others who had asked the question with that comment. She was the first to ask, but by the time he had posted his second thought on "how's it been going?" we'd had quite a few more questions of that nature.

As a side note, we (Mendon, that's you, too) should be more careful about what names we drop and what we say about the topics in which that mention was made. There are silent readers of these blogs, and it would not be difficult to do some unintentional backbiting.

Thank you, Kristen. I think your momma is someone who cares, too. :-)

No NO NO! Linda totally cares. She's wonderful! In fact, when I was responding to Rachael I wasn't discussing my experiences with my wedding AT ALL! Don't confuse the topic. Linda is great and has been very supportive.

You know, this comment is more appropriate in your more recent entry, but I can't get to it. I think it's a problem with this new template stuff. I'll try to click on the links and they simply disappear.

And I finally figured out why this picture creeps me out - it's not you! It's a "mirror" you. I kept looking at it and thinking, "those bookcases, something is wrong with them." I finally realized - it's all in reverse!

Reversed? If you were the computer (where the camera is) the bookshelves would be over my right shoulder, as they are in the picture.

Ah! I had the same issue, Mara. : ) It took me a minute to figure it out as well, and once I did, I still didn't trust my conclusion. I'm glad you posted on it (how silly is this?) it makes me feel saner.