Skip to main content

Friends, family, and I'll be okay

I was recently reading a comment to a post of a former coworker's blog. The original post was about new year's resolutions, which, by the way, I have not done in years (not sure I have ever actually kept one for more than a couple of months at best). But this person's comment was about things not being as bad as they seem. True, but all too often, I forget that thought until after I had just spent hours (or days) worried about something. To paraphrase Ally McBeal (I miss that show, except for the last season) when asked why her problems always seemed so big, "Because they are MY problems." But it's true, really. When I was going through something in the fall, I kept thinking, "Why me?" Fortunately, one particular friend was there for me to vent to. Looking back now I wonder how I let myself get so worked up. You just get through things. You move on. And more things are thrown your way. And you get through those as best as you can. All that said, when my next crisis hits, you can be sure at least one of you will be hearing my woe-is-me tale of angst.


But how do people who have no family or friends stay sane? I am very grateful for my devoted husband, my daughter, and my family. They mean everything to me, even though they sometimes drive me crazy and make me mad (yes, I know it is a two-way street). When the chips are down, these people are there for me (well, they are pretty much there for me anyway). And my friends are important to me as well. I once read that if you have one true friend, you are truly blessed (or something like that), so having many, I sure must be. Some I see fairly often; others I have not seen in probably more than five years (thank goodness for email, blogs, and Christmas letters). Since I have had a kid and because I work, I understand how difficult it can be to stay in touch. But the job that in some ways has kept me from seeing friends as much as I want to has also allowed me to make many friends over the years. I don't know what I would do without these people, most of whom are male. I have joked that I have had a work husband for years, but I really have three. These are the guys I shoot the breeze and walk with at lunchtime, and I nag Dudee, Myslacki, and Oldchak almost as much as my real husband. :-) Hopefully this just makes them appreciate their wives/girlfriend that much more (note: two have one wife each, and the other has one girlfriend, in case you were wondering).

I hope writing this blog inspires me to be a better friend, just as I hope it allows others to keep in touch with me and vice-versa. Perhaps I will, over time, write (and talk) less, but I can almost hear my former coworker E$ saying, "that is part of your charm." As I say to my kid, "God made us all special. Some are short; some are tall; some are big; some are small." And some of us just like to ramble, be sarcastic, watch football, sing at random times (though not so much at work anymore after having sang in front of the office on the spot), eat a lot, overuse parentheses, analyze everything to death, complain about taxes, and obsess about money. And I can't forget meet friends/coworkers for lunch and/or happy hour. Even if it means paying the stupid drink tax. Because as much as I complain about that tax, it is worth it for the chance to get out of the office (or house) and eat, drink, and be merry with those I like to spend time with. (See you next month, Ash, Heather, and Z, when I will hopefully be off "house arrest.") But I still won't stop complaining about the tax anytime soon.

Good night (well, actually, good morning; it is now 5:11 a.m. despite what the posting time ends up indicating. And, Mel, if you read this, know I was lying in bed from 2:30 to 4, before giving up). FYI, this blog is showing up as Friday, when I started it, not early Sunday morning, when insomnia allowed me to finish it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Let's build something together!

That is one of my favorite slogan's (Or is that a tagline? Over a year removed from a design firm, and I can no longer remember). It belongs to Lowe's, although I am more of a Home Depot gal. But suffice it to say if someone handed me a $5,000 gift card to Home Depot (or Lowe's), I would be ecstatic. If I had $10,000 to spend, you could hear my shouts of joy from miles away. The things I could do with that money. Well, the things I could have Brian do with that money anyway. I love walking around Home Depot and admiring the fancy bathroom sinks and tubs. I look at the lighting and think about where I would put each fixture. I touch textured and colorful tiles and wistfully look at the fancy kitchen cabinets. I admire the various carpet styles and blinds. I look at the fancy front-loading washer and wonder what it must be like to have a steam dryer. I even look longingly at the vacuum cleaners because I can no longer buy a replacement filter for my eight year old mo...

If only I had taken pictures of my detoured drive

When I moved to the Burgh just over 14 years ago, I had a lot of anxiety about getting from "here" to "there." I found the city, which is triangular, and even some of the suburbs quite confusing. On top of that, a lot of the signs were of little help. Clearly they were put up by either natives who had no need for directions or people with a sick sense of humor who thought it would be funny to put signs in random places, leaving off important roads. At some point, I got over that fear of driving to a new building downtown. I don't recall when it happened, but eventually I just figured most of the city out; and when I had to head to a new place, I just drove around, no longer with a feeling of dread, knowing I would eventually get there. But on Sunday morning, that awful, long-ago feeling returned, thanks to the closure of the outbound Fort Pitt Tunnels. I had to pick my mother up from the airport, so there was no avoiding it. (For some reason, my family think...

Summer in review

This summer I made it a point to try to take at least one pic of Jordan whenever we went somewhere, which most often was a park. I wanted to capture all the great, fun things we did this summer, knowing that it was probably going to be my last summer not working for quite some time. So here goes. I have expressed my love of Frick Park, particularly Blue Slide Park, in other posts ; it really is one of our favorites. And this summer marked the first one I did not feel the need to follow J around like a little puppy dog. I actually let her run around and explore, though, admittedly, I would panic if more than three minutes went by and I had not seen her. In the pics above, J is at the end of the blue slide, and then hanging several feet above concrete (which scared the crap out of me). We also visited another section of Frick Park, the area on the corner of Braddock and Forbes, a few times. There is not as much to do as Blue Slide, but we go there to mix things up a bit. In the p...