Wendy's very first school picture! Try and tell me my girl isn't gorgeous! Just look at that grin...

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile - I got show busy, and work busy, and pretty much just life in general busy. I will probably never be one of those chilled out, focused people. I'm just too much TOO MUCH for that kind of lifestyle, know what I mean? Not that I don't envy the simple folk from time to time...

Who are you incomplete with?
I am not completely myself with a LOT of people. Or, more specifically, I am only part of myself with just about everyone. There are so many things I want to hide from so many people. Mistakes I've made (and continue to make), regrets I have, dreams too complex to express, let alone realize. Plus I want you to like me. Always. No matter who you are, no matter how I feel about you. I want you to like me. I want strangers to like me. I want enemies to like me. I want people whose opinions, ideals, and daily lives to which I am utterly indifferent TO LIKE ME. This has ALWAYS been a problem. And my preferred method of dealing with this has been to only reveal to you the parts of myself that I know you will like, so you will like me, you see? I occasionally have been know to turn up, or turn down the volume of certain parts of myself as well, to further support the you-getting-to-like-me thing. Sometime it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Bottom line: I am incomplete with just about everyone I know.

Who are you grateful for?
I am grateful for my daughter most of all. She is the embodiment of delight to me.
I am grateful for my husband, who sees all my light, and still (somehow) loves my dark.
I am grateful for my brother, especially for the week after my daughter was born where I would have self-combusted if he hadn't been around to cook and clean for me.
I am grateful for my parents, who worked so hard for so many years for me and who taught me so much about the very best things in life: God, love, family.
I am grateful for my husband's family, especially my sisters-in-law, who all welcomed me with open arms even though we are all so different, and I know a lot of the time they don't really understand me.
I am grateful for my students who make me feel famous and needed and who TEACH ME every day.
I am grateful for the quiet and forgiving companionship of my cats, and the exuberant and steadfast companionship of my dogs.
I am grateful for the friends I had in college who supported me as I discovered myself, and who added bits of themselves to the mixture that was becoming me so I could keep part of you with me always.
I am grateful to you, right now, for this.