Julie Pippert: Using My Words

If you're feeling a bit skeptical about the promise of Spring, please know it is here, and will arrive there soon. :) In fact, it must be nearly there since it's practically summer here, already: "The air's so heavy, It could drown a butterfly." (Grace Potter, Falling or Flying ) The Southern winds are prevailing, pushing back any north wind attempts to get through here, and cool and dry off the air. It's the hot and wet season, now. Just a quick raw photo, then, in case your weather isn't the same: Marriage and parenthood: are we all insane? The Impressive Clergyman: Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam... [cut to Westley, Inigo, and Fezzik] The Impressive Clergyman: And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva... [cut to the trio again] The Impressive Clergyman: So tweasure your wuv. Prince Humperdinck: Skip to the end. The Impressive Clergyman: Have you the wing? [cut to the trio once more] ...

Foreword: Several weeks ago I custom made my daughters' birthday party invitations because---despite ample shopping endeavors---we could not find the exact ones that met Patience's specifications. If you'll recall, this is also the child who drew a detailed schematic for the cake, which she handed off to the cake designer. Luckily, my crazy cool Photoshop skills allowed me to create the Just Right invitation. When I sent the image to the printer, I had to select quantity. I dithered over 10 or 20 and asked my husband for input. I think I may have mentioned this but he suggested 50 (!!!) because we needed to be inclusionary. I gasped at 50 (!!!) and asked who we knew that well. He started listing and sure enough, he had in mind a large group of children. I about cried. He asked what I had I mind and I said maybe 10. He more or less accused me of being snobbish and exclusionary. He reminded me the school encouraged us to include every child for birthday parties and thus far e...

I began dating my husband in college while he was still getting his first degree in architecture. The classes were geared towards preparing students not for the profession of architecture but for the lifestyle of architecture. They had things called "studios" that ran from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and so forth, you know, to help these students understand they were selecting a career that demanded your life. I met architecture students---including my husband who was dating my friend Lynn at the time---for the first time my freshman year. One of my good friends from high school was an architecture major, and my roommate (the second one, after the first one, recently released from the loony bin, tried to stab me) had a cousin also enrolled in the program. So between these people we were somehow sucked into the world of architecture. I should have known it would be my destiny, but I kept diligently dating engineers who had bright, well-paid futures. I always lived very near to campus (w...