The year of firsts…

Having a baby niece has been amazing for so many reasons.  These past few five months have been some of the best of my life.  I am so lucky to live so close to her and to be such a big part of her growing up.  It has been so fun to see all of her “firsts”, especially holidays.  In an alcoholic family, holidays can be dreadful and stressful.  I have definitely experienced my fair share of ruined holidays.  I jokingly said to someone the other day that I feel like my niece is the reward for having such a dysfunctional family.  She is just so sweet and innocent and happy.  And she makes my sister and my mother and me SO happy.  Tonight was her first Halloween and my mom made her costume.  I know this was such a wonderful experience for my mom- to make something special for her granddaughter.  It may seem silly that we all dressed up and made such a big deal about a baby going trick-or-treating that isn’t even able to eat candy yet, but it was just another of so many sweet memories with her.  I usually do not look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas the same way other people do- I mean I still really like the holidays, but since they involve my family, they are usually stressful.  But this year feels really exciting and special and it is nice to actually be looking forward to the next few months!!

You can lead a horse to water…

When I started this blog, I promised myself that I would write once a month, no matter what, and I have kept that promise.  That really doesn’t seem like a huge commitment, yet there are times (like now), where I feel very reluctant to write.  I kind of almost feel like a kid rebelling against something I don’t want to do.Sometimes it is that I don’t have a topic easily on hand or sometimes I am not ready to address something that is bothering me. Usually when I make myself sit down and start typing, an idea will form or a memory will pop into my head.  I teach a college-level composition course, so I try to practice what I preach about being consistent in the area of writing…and, of course, what do you do most is what you do best.  I even have a reminder on my phone to go off on the 26th of every month…just in case writing slips my mind.  I found this month that I hit “snooze” for another day and then another day…until alas, I am on the last day of the month, which also happens to be Halloween.

I don’t have a huge preference for or against Halloween.  Unlike many other holidays, I do not have any negative childhood experiences associated with Halloween.  When I was little, my mom made creative and fun costumes.  When I was a teenager, I loved hanging out with my friends, staying out late and gorging myself on candy.  In my 20s and early 30s, there were fun costume parties. Now in my late 30s, it is just kind of another day.  I enjoy decorating my house and I somewhat begrudgingly hand out candy (and most of the kids are pretty cute).  I guess because I don’t have children, there really isn’t anything that awesome about it.

So, I think this is my shortest post to date…but the holidays are around the corner, so I am sure my family will give me some new material to write about- they are always good for that 🙂