What would Judi do?

My then-husband and I moved into this house in 1999, I think.  It's been a while.  An old lady lived next to us - she was nice.  No one else talked to us. Then I got pregnant.  The other kooky old lady behind us talked to me.  Twice.  Just twice. Then I had the babies.  People looked but not a lot of neighbors talked to us. As they grew, we started hanging out at our local playground, about a block from my house.  Still, no one talked to me. Then someone did.  And more people started to talk.  Our neighbor, Heli, was like the pied piper of moms in need of friends.  She talked to everyone and suddenly people started to know each other. It didn't matter if it was raining out.  We went to the playground and played in puddles.  When it was nice we went and played.  When it snowed (and I wasn't bitchy about it), we played.  I knew all my neighbors.  We helped each other.  We talked.  It was pr...

I know this post might get me in trouble with some of my friends but I'm going to do it anyway. So there. I think chivalry has a place in this world.  It's not a man or woman thing.  It's a manners thing. The other day I was walking into a building where I was scheduled to work.  I was several steps behind three people - two women and a man.  They didn't acknowledge me at all; they were just walking and chattering away with each other.  We got to the door and the two women went in ahead of me while the man held the door open.  He waited for me - which I appreciated.  We all get through security and the same thing happened at the next set of doors.  Then we got to the elevator and he did it again.  He didn't say anything to me but I made sure to say thank you to him and quietly said   have a great day! as he exited the elevator.  He was polite and I was appreciative. It makes me bonkers when people don't hold the d...

A year ago today my mother in law died.  There aren't many days I can remember in such detail.  I remember that day clearly.  I started thinking about this last year and all the things that have happened.    I'll limit the list to related things: 1.  We learned that while we were sad for much of this year, life does indeed go on. 2.  My girls grew to be almost as tall as Ruth was when she died.  That's a lot of growth for a year. 3.  My ex and I learned to work together for things that didn't  involve our families.  We were always fine with that but couldn't get ourselves together for other things.  We're better now. 4.  I walked 26.2 miles and my girls cheered countless other walkers. 5. I got my first mammogram in several years.  I'm grateful to the woman at one of the Avon Walk events who asked MY DAUGHTER if she knew when was the last time I had a mammogram.  I think I'd only had one since their bir...

I am not the most domestic person.  My office is currently sitting in boxes in my living room.  We are pretending not to see the Christmas tree in the corner.  There might be a sock or two under the couch.  This is not my area of expertise. But every once in a while I get the domestic gene kicking in and I feel the need to do things.  Sometimes it means getting all the laundry done in one day.  That's rare.  More recently it means cooking. My mother lives in a senior living complex that is "kosher inspired".  I don't even know what that means....inspired.....other than they don't eat bacon.  I do know they eat a lot of chicken which means my mom asks me to cook anything but chicken.  Now, I'm not a great cook but when I bother to do things, it tends to be chicken.  So the challenge was on. She asked for meat loaf.  Sigh.  I got my girl scout badge in cooking by making meat loaf.  I'm pretty sure I've made it ONC...

This is going to be a strange and disjointed post.  I have things to say but haven't yet figured out how I want to do this. At the end of my ITP (Interpreter Training Program), I had to do a practicum that included a bunch of different settings.  I interpreted in church (that was interesting), psych (horrible) and school (weird).  I wasn't much older than a lot of the students so I would get checked for ID by teachers.  I hated (and still do) being in the educational setting but an interpreter has to do what an interpreter has to do.  One of my mentors, N, remained a friend for many years.  Hanging out with her and her husband was fun.  They were hunters, republicans and as conservative as I was liberal.  But we liked each other. After I moved to MD, we stayed in touch occasionally.  Nothing regular but Christmas cards and the occasional letter kept us in each others' lives.  But after my dozen moves in as many years, we fell ou...

It's cold out.  And I'm not happy.  Nope, not happy at all.  I hate being cold. I don't normally wear a coat.  It makes me feel like Ralphie's little brother from A Christmas Story.  Come on, you remember..... I broke down and wore a coat.  I don't normally wear gloves because somewhere around the age of 7 I learned that mitten clips weren't cool to have.  So I lose one of my gloves Every. Single. Time.  Just like umbrellas.  I lose those too.  But today I wore gloves.  And earmuffs.  Seriously. I didn't want to get out of bed but I did.  That's one of the hazards of being an adult, I suppose.  The entire time I was getting ready I was praying that my car would start.  It did (and yes, I thanked the Universe).  I got the girls to school (mostly) on time.  And I got to work early.  If I get to work early I can wear make up as I keep my make up in the car just for those days when I ...

Huh.  Alissa over at Clever Compass and the other bloggers came up with another stumper for me:  what have I do with my life that makes me feel proud.  Funny, one of my girls asked me about that the other day.  Finding an answer to that question is kinda hard. So let me see what I can come up with. Hmmmm.....what am I proud of?  Oh!  I have a few! I started my first business, Discovery Records, at the age of 19 with a $250 investment from my brother. I scared myself silly by flying to Poland to meet a guy I dated for about a month 6 years earlier when I did a short student exchange program in Germany.  We met in Poland (yes, we recognized each other) and went to the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz and Austria (and a bunch of other places) so I could see where my family lived and possibly died. I've interpreted for Paul McCartney (a few times!), at one of President Clinton's Inaugural Balls, for Mrs. Clinton, for the births of 8 babies, THE CURE!!...