Saint Generator

If you are looking for a new patron in 2016, be sure to check out the Saint Generator. It is a great way to find out about a saint you may not have previously known.

Happy New Year

May your 2016 be everything you hope it is.

Anniversaries

My 20th wedding anniversary is on 2/9/16. Everyone knows that I got married the day after my 21st birthday. That was kind of handy since I honeymooned in Las Vegas - would have been awkward not to be able to drink and gamble with my husband ('cause I'm all about the drinking and gambling).

I celebrated another anniversary of sorts last week. It was a year ago that my friendship with the best friend I ever had ended. We were friends for more than a quarter of a century. There was no big blowup or anything (if we ever fought, it was only because I was petty and bitchy in high school) - just a decision that our friendship had run its course.

My wedding day is one of the happiest of my life (naturally). The day that my best friend exited my life is one of my saddest. I observe both anniversaries. One I look forward to all year. The other I dreaded all year (I just observed the first anniversary).

What's my point? Stupid Facebook, with its asinine habit of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, decided to "celebrate" the anniversary (there's that word again!) of my FB friendship with my friend's sister by showing me this picture - a picture which just happens to conflate everything!

Thanks, Facebook. You really are the gift that keeps on giving.

Withdrawal

...no, not that kind of withdrawal. The kind where, when you're discouraged or sad, you don't write anything online because you don't want to come off as totally negative. That kind. It's funny that even as I write this, another situation, um, develops. I always wonder how much of a child's "disorder" or problems is (are) tied to the way in which they interact with their parents. Yes, of course, there is a predisposition there. Chemical imbalance? Sure. Screwed up wiring? Okay. But how much has to do with those interactions? My son pushes so hard. And I push back. I wake up every morning resolved not to push back, but push back I do. There are two things at work, I think. First, there is definitely the, "You can't talk to me like that" working. I can't deny it. There is also very much the notion, though, that I have to make sure that this kid has to be able to grow up and function in society - that my ignoring his crap (as tempting as that is) will not, ultimately, do him any favors. How I wish I knew the answers.