I have created another blog to give updates on my writing efforts. You can find it here.

November 30, 2005

Emotional potpourri

This should be a happy entry, and I guess for the most part it is, but there is sadness in my life even as there is joy, and I'm going to talk about that as well.

The joy first: over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend I became engaged to be married to a remarkable woman who, somehow, has managed to put up with me long enough to fall in love with me. More than that, she has brought her three wonderful children into my life, and when you add my daughter into the mix, there is a Brady Bunch a'brewin'. Appropriately, perhaps, we saw Yours, Mine, and Ours while they were in town last week, and we hope that our story ends as happily as theirs did. We had a houseful of people last week, and it all felt so natural, so right, that I had no choice but to get down and propose. I'm still not sure why she said yes.

Darlene, I love you with all my heart, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. To Drool, Messica, and Vickboy, I feel the same way about you guys as I do your mom. I can't wait to see you all again soon, so you can all shout "Ooh, BABY!" when I kiss your mom.

That having been said, all is not as happy as I would like. My oldest, dearest friends Ben and Wanda have been trying to get pregnant. You can read their story on their own blog (link is over there on the side somewhere), so I won't repeat it here. Suffice to say, they have arrived at a point where they are almost out of options. I am devestated. Ben is my brother, near enough, and Wanda would be like my sister if not for the unsavory connotations that would evoke, given that she's married to Ben. Call her a third cousin, maybe. I think that's legal in this state. Anyway, they are heading for adoption after another round of heartbreak, and I can't help but feel a little (ok, more than a little) guilty, because I am getting engaged and bringing three new children into my own life when they've had so much difficulty getting even one. I shouldn't feel guilty, I guess, but I do anyway. I am hurting for them. More than anything, I want them to be parents, and to know that joy for themselves. They have a lot of love to give, and I know whatever children end up coming into their home, whether by birth or via adoption, they will be magnificent parents, and their home will be full of love. You guys have my heart behind you, and anything I can do in support, just let me know. I love you, and I can't wait to see your dream come true, however it has to be done.

One day, my friends, Darlene and I will build a family, and you will as well. Our children will play in the park together, then yours will go to choral rehearsal while mine go home, sit on the couch, watch football, and wonder why yours are always so busy. That's how it's happened with us all these years, no reason the kids shouldn't continue the tradition.

November 4, 2005

Happy Birthday, twins!

I'm going to North Carolina this weekend. The twins are having their eighth birthday (Happy Birthday, Jewel and Jess!), Steven might want to play some more football, and I want to see their mother (as Jessica calls her, my "lovely girlfriend") too. I'm driving up tonight after work so that hopefully I can be there in time to see everyone before bedtime. Tomorrow will be the really fun day, then Sunday will be sad because I'll have to come home. It's going to be a great weekend. I can't wait to get up there. See you tonight, guys.

The most pointless blog entry ever

I really don't have anything specific that I want to write about. I find myself wanting to write, though, so I'm going to start typing and see what comes out. I sometimes do some of my best writing that way; sort of a spasm of stream-of-consciousness dreck that doesn't really mean anything. If I get really froggy I'll start writing really long run-on sentences that don't really have a point but just sort of meander around several different vague sort of points but then take a left turn and get lost in the woods and then you get really tired as a reader because they just go on and on and sometimes I put a semicolon in somewhere but usually I just put in another and or two because nothing makes a run-on sentence truly run on like a good collection of ands, you know?

I don't really know why I'm doing this, but I was probably inspired because I teased Ben about writing an entry on his own blog that was about why he wasn't updating his blog. I said in a comment, "Is a blog entry bemoaning the fact that there have been no blog entries really a blog entry?" In that same spirit, I call b.s. on myself and ask whether a blog entry that isn't about anything at all is really a blog entry, either? Then I think, heck, Seinfeld was a TV show about nothing. Why does my blog have to be about anything? Does that mean I'm comparing my blog to Seinfeld? Oh no, there's no comparison there. My blog is a lot funnier than Seinfeld. I'm not near as annoying as George Costanza (Ben might be, but I'm certainly not), and my girlfriend is way better looking than what's-her-name, the girl with the hair who was in Christmas Vacation as the snooty neighbor who got attacked by a squirrel. Remember that? God, that was hysterical. What a great movie that was, and is. One of my favorite holiday movies. Of course, I also love A Christmas Story, and The Santa Clause is cute too, especially when the little girl remembers that he said he was lactose intolerant. That might be one of the most unbearably sweet movie moments ever. I go, "Awwwwwww" every time I see it.

My condo complex had a Community Night last night at the nearby Burger House, and several friends and neighbors got together. I sat around with Brandon and Cam, two denizens of the local high school drumline (Brandon on bass, Cam (I hope that's his name and I'm not misremembering it. If I am, sorry, dude. Assuming he ever reads this...) on cymbals), and we swapped band stories for over an hour. Three band geeks sitting around talking shop while the adults in the group talked about more important things. But really, is there ever anything more important than band stories? Obviously not, if this blog is any indication.

Anyway, I've been palavering for far too long, and I need to actually get some work done today, so I'm going to sign off for now and see if I can get to it. Last one out, please turn off the lights.