We’re Having a Baby
I have a friend. She’s 42, beautiful, artistic, talented, incredibly smart, and single. Unbeknownst to many of us, she hid her pregnancy until she could no longer keep it a secret. She wore loose sweaters, covered up with loose-knit scarves. In fact, she was pregnant during the Burning Man festival last year. Pregnant by artificial insemination. With the official announcements making their way around the circuits, many people have gasped, “What?! No way!” I guess you hear about women doing this and having children on their own, but how many of us have friends who’ve done this? She is my first.
Live Blogging: The Relationship
I spent Saturday holed up at home. I’m sick. I don’t like being around people when I’m sick. Even when I’m feeling great, I often times don’t like being around people.
Sick All Week
A friend sent me an e-card yesterday, “I’m sorry that your sick day is actually due to sickness.” It made me laugh. But I didn’t take a sick day. I wanted to, just couldn’t. Everyday, I woke up, threatening to call in sick, but always chickened out at the last minute. I kept thinking about the certain tasks at work that only I could do. Must get in and upload the revised presentation to the web site. Must get in and return the phone call to the investor who asked about the preferred stock. And as I bussed down to work, I promised myself that it would only be a half day. I’d get in, finish up those tasks, and come crawling back home into bed. Never happened.
A Little Bit of Honesty
A friend of mine set me up with her college friend. We went out. Drinking on an empty stomach, I ended up making out with him at the bar. Big mistake. Here are the follow-on emails.
From: Martin
To: Catherine
Hey, how is your week looking? Feel like taking a break and doing something? Let me know.
Martin
From: Catherine
To: Martin
hey martin, i want to apologize for my behavior when we met. i was drinking on an empty stomach, rushed out of the bar, and flopped away home. i’m pretty sure i was a little out of sorts. i didn’t even remember making sunday plans.
i have to be honest with you. i met someone a couple days after i met you and we are now seeing each other. it’s all very odd to me as i’ve been single for so very long.
i wish you the best. deidre and i have decided to get our groups of friends together for huge happy hours so i look forward to seeing you soon.
catherine
From: Martin
To: Catherine
Hi Catherine,
Thanks for being honest and I hope that things work out with this new person, if they don’t, and I am still single and you are still interested we can try again with more food and less alcohol. You have an amazing body especially for someone who is such a workaholic and your craziness is quite endearing
Take care and hopefully I will see you at a get together soon.
Martin
All Grown Up
Whenever we visited my grandparents in Seaside–a beach-side town near Monterey–I felt like we were going on vacation. I remember playing in their beach of a backyard, cupping the white sand with my hands and watching the fine particles filter through the gaps in my fingers. I was six years old. I touched the top of my head–scorching hot. My black hair absorbed the heat like a cactus sucking in water. I looked up at the sun through my new black sunglasses, lifting them to see the white sun un-obscured, wincing.


