Closing time

I go through phases where I analyze different aspects of my life, and lately I've been thinking about this blog. And I realized a few things:

1. Only about a half dozen people actually read this blog (and half of those, I believe, are family).
2. Most of what I write is not really of much interest/importance to the general public (as 99% of my posts spark zero commentary).
3. Anything I have to say that is of importance/interest, I could just share directly with that half dozen of friends and family, instead of posting it on a public blog.

Meaning that--this blog is pretty much unnecessary. It is kind of a sad realization, because I think that we all like to believe, at some level, that our every thought and musing should be infinitely interesting to others, and that everyone who stumbles upon our writings would be instantly hooked, and we'd soon have so many followers, we'd be rivaling dooce in popularity.

But, I know that I do not fall under that description. I lead a quiet, insignificant life that is only interesting to myself and a very small, select group of others. And that's ok.

So, I am suspending my blog. I don't have the heart to delete it entirely just yet, as it contains elements of a journal of the past four years for me, and I sometimes like to look back on those old stories. But, this is my final post.

For those of you who have read regularly or who have stumbled upon this blog and taken time to look around, thank you. If I know you well, I will still be sharing my musings with you, just in different ways.

thanks and love,
Aunt TT

two years

Two years of sharing: time, laughter, meals, home improvement projects, secrets, a bed, songs, car rides, drinks, kisses, responsibilities, ideas, sicknesses, hugs, bills, disagreements, adventures, friends, family, chores, inside jokes, tears, dogs, dances, trips, pictures, holidays, porch swings, games, celebrations, and lots and lots of love.

Or, as I would have written in fourth grade:
2 people
+ 2 gether
= 4 ever

Happy 2 years, honey--I love you bunches!

superfluity

Sometimes, you buy things just because they make you smile:

(meet my impulse buy from Hobby Lobby on Saturday)

Fall-ing in Love

How do I love Autumn in Nashville? Let me count the ways:

* Shakespeare in the Park
* Live on the Green
* Greek Festival
* Fall TACA Arts Fair
* Wine on the River
* Oktoberfest
* Southern Festival of Books
* HallowEast

Sure, September and October are my crazy-busy months at work...but they are also the months when the heat finally drops below hell-levels, and countless festivals and impromptu backyard bbqs fill in the beautiful, temperate weekend hours.

I love inhaling the crisp, clean air...
I love watching the trees change into their red and gold finest, like they're putting on party dresses...
I love picking out the funkiest, misshapen gourds at the farmer's market...
I love sitting by a fire pit, sipping wine under the stars...

I. Love. Fall.

"O" is for overshare

When you have a platform from which you can share all of the minutiae of your life with anyone who wants to read it, there's always the temptation to overshare. It's just there. And I think I am falling into that temptation with this post, so I will go ahead and warn you: if you have any problems with reading about bodily fluids or things that are of a womanly nature, you probably want to stop reading HERE.

You've been warned now.

So, since I got back from Africa, Todd and I have opened ourselves up to the possibility of having children. Which basically means that I went off birth control. And that was over a month ago. Notice I said over a month ago. And nothing regular has happened since then, but my body has been feeling all sorts of strange, and I've been an emotional rollercoaster, and I've realized just how much that tiny little pill regulated my body for 10 years.

So, since nothing regular has happened, I decided I should probably take a pregnancy test, just to be sure.

And ladies, I am here to tell you that peeing on a stick is not easy. Seriously. Take the difficulty of peeing in a cup and multiply it by oh, 175. Because as we all know, a woman's urine stream is not predictable. For a man, he can just point and shoot, and it pretty much goes wherever he aims. Not for a woman. It can start off one way, and then all of a sudden, it's like a gust of wind just sweeps through the toilet bowl and sends it in an entirely different direction.

And here's the thing, the instructions of the pregnancy test say that you need to hold that stick in your stream for exactly five seconds--no more, no less--because if you get too much or too little on the stick it can cause a false reading. What the...? Sorry, but when your pee stream is as unpredictable as Sarah Palin on crack, how are you supposed to make that happen? I don't know about you, but I am definitely not that coordinated. If I meet a woman who can follow those instructions exactly, I will shake her hand (after, of course, she has washed it). Who knew that peeing would be the most stressful part of the whole pregnancy test experience?

All I can say is, thank God that Todd was not awake for all of that, or he most certainly would have been making fun of me the entire time. In a loving way, of course.

So, there you have it...my total overshare. I feel better now, having gotten it out of my system.



What--you were wondering about the results of the test? Hmmmmm....

Nine

My lovely niece (she who changed my name to TT) turns nine today. It seems like just yesterday that I witnessed her birth (although, that's probably because witnessing a birth is one of those images/experiences that you don't soon forget--it etches itself into your brain, so it is always a salient memory).

But, in those nine short years, she has turned into a beautiful, witty, mature, confident, caring, intelligent young lady, and I am so proud of her.

Happy Birthday, KK!

home

I've been back in the states now for almost 48 hours--and my body seems to be adjusting very well from the jet lag, although my mind and heart are still busy processing everything that happened in the past two weeks.

The trip was truly incredible--much better than we ever could have imagined. The students we traveled with were wonderful, and we had no illnesses, no injuries, and no problems. Everyone worked well together, and we accomplished much in a short time.

As I sit here remembering, it is the faces that keep running through my mind. The children, the warriors, the teachers, the mothers.

The Maasai men who were our guardians on the mara:
Nalotwesha, the woman who showed up every day to help us work:Beautiful Joice, my friend with the sweet smile:Moses, whose singing voice was so lovely and piercing, it could break your heart:


...and so many more. So many faces and stories that I will not soon forget.

I will try to write more about the trip soon--for now, I am still in a bit of a daze and trying to get back to the grind of daily life here.

But--I am home.