Talking earnestly with Daniel Tiger
Posted on 2013.01.05 at 10:00
I went to the dentist, and found out I have really shitty gums. According to the dental tech. Well, I'm paraphrasing. What she said was "You've got really big regions of 4 mm and 5 mm, and we like to see it around 2-3 mm." She scrubbed them and hacked away at them for about 45 minutes. Then the dentist came, and he was clearly the Good Cop who reassured me that this is just pregnancy hormones and not to worry. (I don't actually think it's pregnancy hormones. Isn't it the increased blood volume that comes along with pregnancy that makes your gums swell and risk infection? My irritable crying jags are just fine for my gums, thank you very much.) On the other hand, my blood pressure was 85/53, so it's better than yours.
Yesterday I took a big two hour nap in the morning, and a three hour nap in the afternoon. Jammies burst in like the house was on fire: "ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?" I dreamily rolled over and smiled and said "I feel great!" He said "THEN I'M SUPER LATE TO GO GET THE KIDS" and rushed right back out. I had slept through four texts and six phone calls of him saying "Can you pick up the kids? I'm running late" and he started to worry that I'd actually passed out or hurt myself somehow. I felt both awfully guilty and terrifically well-rested, paradoxically.
I went to sleep with no problem, and feel fine this morning. I'm blaming the flu shot I got on Thursday.
YAY, COFFEE'S READY!
My aunt and I talked about how she raised her kids in Texas, compared to how I was raised in north Florida. I was told "Never talk about religion, because you'll offend them and it's easier not to rock the boat." My aunt cried "Offend them? What about how their beliefs are offensive to you?" She raised her kids to speak up about their beliefs. To also respect other people's beliefs, but not to hide one's own. I grew up thinking Christians were very, very fragile and easily offended.
That kind of emotional assertiveness must be very nice. It just never occurred to me, growing up, to take offense at their beliefs. To be clear, I mean fundamentalist conservative Christians with beliefs like "If you're not saved, you're going to hell." As an adult, I find that belief super offensive, but only on an intellectual level. It doesn't offend me emotionally, if that makes sense. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to function outside of Austin, I think. It's just too pervasive.
YAY, FAMILY GOSSIP!
One more piece of family lore. Remember Lady Aberlin, from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood?
Her mom and Grandma Beatrix are cousins. I met her mom, who had just written a charming, rueful book about being elderly, when I took a big road trip with Grandma about ten years ago.
Cousin Aaron is the middle child. His older brother, Cousin Petey, is not deeply wise nor tenacious and obnoxious. Cousin Petey is charismatic and outgoing and charming, and also quite handsome in his youthful pictures. So Cousin Petey and Lady Aberlin were second cousins, and she had a big crush on him growing up.
Eventually he got married and had kids, and I have no idea what she did but it's probably on Wikipedia. Then he got divorced and looked her up, and they dated for six months or so. That's the gossip! (I didn't play up the timing of the punchline quite right. Let me try again. He got divorced, and GUESS WHAT? He looked her up, and .... they dated for six months or so!) I always knew we were related to her, but it's super amusing to me that we kept it in the family, IYKWIM. AITYD.
Eventually he remarried someone else and they had two more kids and his second wife is super lovely, and the only one I've ever met.
Won't anyone think of the children?
Sure, think about Hokey Pokey: he ate a banana. I was holding the empty peel, and I said "What should we do with the peel?" Meaning, throw this away. He said "Put more banana in it?" I laughed and laughed and was very charmed.
Yesterday I took a big two hour nap in the morning, and a three hour nap in the afternoon. Jammies burst in like the house was on fire: "ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?" I dreamily rolled over and smiled and said "I feel great!" He said "THEN I'M SUPER LATE TO GO GET THE KIDS" and rushed right back out. I had slept through four texts and six phone calls of him saying "Can you pick up the kids? I'm running late" and he started to worry that I'd actually passed out or hurt myself somehow. I felt both awfully guilty and terrifically well-rested, paradoxically.
I went to sleep with no problem, and feel fine this morning. I'm blaming the flu shot I got on Thursday.
YAY, COFFEE'S READY!
My aunt and I talked about how she raised her kids in Texas, compared to how I was raised in north Florida. I was told "Never talk about religion, because you'll offend them and it's easier not to rock the boat." My aunt cried "Offend them? What about how their beliefs are offensive to you?" She raised her kids to speak up about their beliefs. To also respect other people's beliefs, but not to hide one's own. I grew up thinking Christians were very, very fragile and easily offended.
That kind of emotional assertiveness must be very nice. It just never occurred to me, growing up, to take offense at their beliefs. To be clear, I mean fundamentalist conservative Christians with beliefs like "If you're not saved, you're going to hell." As an adult, I find that belief super offensive, but only on an intellectual level. It doesn't offend me emotionally, if that makes sense. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to function outside of Austin, I think. It's just too pervasive.
YAY, FAMILY GOSSIP!
One more piece of family lore. Remember Lady Aberlin, from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood?
Her mom and Grandma Beatrix are cousins. I met her mom, who had just written a charming, rueful book about being elderly, when I took a big road trip with Grandma about ten years ago.
Cousin Aaron is the middle child. His older brother, Cousin Petey, is not deeply wise nor tenacious and obnoxious. Cousin Petey is charismatic and outgoing and charming, and also quite handsome in his youthful pictures. So Cousin Petey and Lady Aberlin were second cousins, and she had a big crush on him growing up.
Eventually he got married and had kids, and I have no idea what she did but it's probably on Wikipedia. Then he got divorced and looked her up, and they dated for six months or so. That's the gossip! (I didn't play up the timing of the punchline quite right. Let me try again. He got divorced, and GUESS WHAT? He looked her up, and .... they dated for six months or so!) I always knew we were related to her, but it's super amusing to me that we kept it in the family, IYKWIM. AITYD.
Eventually he remarried someone else and they had two more kids and his second wife is super lovely, and the only one I've ever met.
Won't anyone think of the children?
Sure, think about Hokey Pokey: he ate a banana. I was holding the empty peel, and I said "What should we do with the peel?" Meaning, throw this away. He said "Put more banana in it?" I laughed and laughed and was very charmed.