Julie Pippert: Using My Words

The last few months of 2008 were a little mind-blowing in a "I'll let you know when I've finished processing that" kind of way. Have you ever gotten busy and let your house go? You know what I mean...skip the laundry, dusting, cleaning, tidying, vacuuming and so forth and one day, walk in, notice the mess and dirt and think, "Holy crap, how did it get this big and bad so fast and where in the world do I start?" Have you ever just backed out of the house and decided to find errands to run and a good excuse to eat out in order to avoid the mess and all you have to do? Overwhelmed. I haven't written much because I've been so overwhelmed, and had no way of figuring how to break it down and which one thing to tackle first. The next thing I knew, the things I wanted to say had piled up on top of one another and I? had no time to get to it, but more than that, it was such a cluttered jumble in my mind that I needed to break it down. Let's go back a few ...

It must be said that my girls are no longer babies. They are getting big, developing their own lives. Cases in point... Boston, October 2007, Museum of Science A child pointed to Persistence and said, "Baby!" Said child appeared about Persistence's age, and was at the time being carried by his mother. Persistence, on the other independent hand, was walking about of her own volition (her usual state). Persistence shrieked in fury and yelled back to the child, "I NOT BABY! YOU BABY!" and ran off, mortally offended. She could be heard muttering for the next hour, "I not baby!" And was quite pissy about it all. Coastal Texas, October 2007, Elementary School Patience begged me to come lunch with her at school on Thursday, so Persistence and I went. I had grilled cheese sandwiches and chocolate milk in buckets. A big deal. This is Fine Kid Dining. She was waiting for me and happily leapt up to join me at the guest lunch table, a big table in the center of th...

"If I get the new Gwen Stefani album," said my husband, drooling only a little, to his credit, "I get unlimited CDs for $1.99." He waved his music club catalog. "Bueno," I said, not looking up from my muffin. "But I have to choose..." he said, a little perplexed. "I want the newest Diana Krall," I announced, "And maybe something else, I don't know," I said, making a grab for the catalog. "Uh uh uh," he evaded me, "I'm not giving up custody of this yet...have you heard any of this Amy Winehouse?" "I've heard of her, R&B, more my thing than yours," I told him. "You can't say that; I don't dislike any genre, just sometimes a lot of the artists in it," he protested. "Name me one R&B artist you like," I challenged. "Give me a second...okay Sade. I bet I can get a list of more if you give me a minute." I took advantage of his distraction to snatc...