STLWorkingMom

Little Miss Sunshine
was my favorite film yet
Carell was stellar

Devil Wears Prada
Meryl Streep shone as Miranda
Loved the clothes, of course

Rumor Has It that
Aniston made a good film;
MacClaine was the hit

We’ve officially lived in Charlottesville an entire year as a family. We survived the big move and flourished in our careers, both professionally and educationally thoughout the 12 months. Clover adjusted nicely, too, learning after only the first day that our bedroom was not the same place as the backyard. That accomplished, he enjoys the added entertainment value in the actual backyard of those little guys with the long fluffy tails that climb the trees and those giant honking guys who can fly.

The boy has had a good year. He’s as surprised as anyone, we think. His grades have been stellar, he’s gainfully employed, has a girlfriend, has friends, continues his excellent career as the world’s tallest trombone player and seems to be enjoying life. It’s truly amazing how quickly he got over telling us how much we suck, and how much we were ruining his life by moving him 800 miles in the middle of 10th grade. He obtained his driver’s license and has successfully driven hundreds of miles up and down Highway 29. We got to the bottom of his allergy woes (Birch, mostly) and will begin working on restoring peace to his delicately curved spine (physical therapy). Some days, it’s tough to be 6′7″, 190 lbs.

The girl had little trouble adjusting to Charlottesville, as outgoing and friendly as she is, she made friends easily. She still tears up a bit when thinking of her friends back in Missouri, but she e-mails them once in a while and feels great joy when they e-mail back. The tween years are tough for anybody, though, and she had some ups and downs. We’ve hung in there with her, though and found some solutions that restore balance in her life. Two of these are breakfast, most importantly with protein (Zuzu; this is a lesson I learned from you) and the other is an immutable schedule. If she’s to take her shower at 8pm, don’t dare suggest it at 7:59pm. She’s a creature of structure and when respected, is the most amiable child. She has grown significantly the past year, now at 5′3″ and wearing a shoe just a half size smaller than my own. She’s eagerly anticipating a grown up outing with her dad, that promises to be memorable. She’s decided, this year, that she will go to UVA when the time comes, and she will become an archeologist. She adores Thomas Jefferson. We think she’s in the right place.

Mark and I have made a few friends, and grow to love Charlottesville more all the time. It’s difficult to be so far apart from family and friends, but for the most part, we’ve managed to stay in touch and look forward to visits either here, or there. Mark is planning a fishing trip with some scattered friends, with a visit back in Missouri this spring. I continue to travel back to St. Louis for work, anticipating about nine trips in 2007. Our jobs continue to be rewarding and working at home, for me is something I’ve found I enjoy. Unless, of course I’m people starved, and then I get up and get out. Mark continues to enjoy a short commute. We do not take for granted the joy of living and working in the same zip code; a first for both of us.

So a good first year in Charlottesville; we look forward to many more to come.

Sleeping with me is not easy. I’ve had difficulty, of late, tossing and turning the whole night through. I flip, an unmeasured number of times through the night, always to my left. I become a spool for the covers, winding them over me and sometimes, onto the floor. For Mark, this is not always a problem, as he gets hot with too many covers. It’s cold at night, though, and he’d prefer to keep the covers I turn and roll away from him while he sleeps.

He said, “You can’t sleep because you’re not working.” We’ve been given this week to rest and refresh, the whole office in various non-work pursuits. “You lack direction; your days have no purpose.” He’s right, of course. And as I stare into the dark, looking for ways to lull myself to sleep, I shut down thoughts of work as soon as they appear.

Tired doesn’t help, as I have tried staying up late and working on household stuff through the day. I’ve been reading, shopping, entertaining kids, cooking and numbing myself with television and movies. I’m starting to believe work will restore my ritual, will result in nights of blissful slumber and indeed, a more refreshed me. Why can I not just enjoy the deserved break?

I am making pancakes for dinner and thinking about Barack Obama. It is appropos of nothing; only the truth. I’m in my post-holiday reverie, having packed up the holiday decorations, yes, a mere three days after the main event. Typically, I don’t wait this long. It’s my eagerness to get on with it, already, that sometimes overtakes my ability to enjoy the now.

I’m wondering what we’ll do for NYE, sad that it won’t be the bash of years’ past, with silliness, rocket fuel, shouts of “Kitchen!,” pizzas the size of card tables, friends’ trivia, drama, some unknown party’s bra dangling from the ceiling fan, someone hurling in Dave’s tiny bathroom, Sean’s many eventful birthdays, unidentified parties making naked snow angels in the yard, Denny firing on someone’s girlfriend, right in front of the other guy, test tubes of alcohol taped into jacket pockets, an icy ride in a Mack truck; so crazy the memories that many of us share and so few of those previous participants will be around to yell “Kitchen” again this year. I could tell you stories.

Somehow I’m living both past and future. The present’s making me edgy.

This week, while on “vacation” I’m being tugged into the future, fielding calls from reporters and clients, one, memorably taken while at the Smithsonian Metro station in D.C. Imagine your mind being entirely in one place while your body’s in another. This is what time travel feels like, I think.

Back to Barack and the pancakes; I’m not hungry but I’m eating since that’s what we do, at an appointed time, give or take. Will the senator’s path and my own cross? If it’s possible, I’m in. There’s work to be done and I’m eager for tomorrow.

Yesterday, as a special treat, we took a trip to D.C. to visit the National Museum of Natural History. We like museums. I think it’s similar to the way I like to shop without buying anything. I like looking at stuff. The Smithsonian museums are pretty good. The Natural History museum is so huge, we could have spent several days exploring it. We also stopped by the castle and the Freer and Sackler galleries. It was a pretty packed day.

We caught the IMAX safari flick in the morning after viewing a few artifacts, and headed to the museum cafe for lunch. I felt my blood pressure rise sharply when I realized that our lunch of pizza, tacos, fruit and soft drinks totaled $41. Now we know how the Smithsonian really stays in business.

Some of our other favorite museums include: the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn. and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Ill.  We have family in both places so it was easy to visit these. If you happen to be in either place, I recommend them both.

It’s pretty nice to take a day trip up to D.C.; the trip is about the same amount of time it took us to drive from St. Charles, Mo. to Columbia for the day. We’ll try to get out of C’ville now and then to visit and see the sights. We’re waiting for some friends to visit to go the the Air and Space museum with us, and for the renovations to end at the American History museum, so we’ll probably go back in the spring to see the zoo and maybe take a Saturday trip this summer. The rush hour traffic on the way home put a damper on the trip so it may be awhile before we’re ready to roadtrip it again.