G Free

Not too long ago, one of my family members was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Following the doctors orders, he sent the word out to everybody in the family to be checked. I haven't had any tests yet, but I've been watching the amount of gluten I take in to see how it affects my body.

I was sharing this with my sister who said, "Yeah, I might have Celiac too...I've been feeling very nostalgic."

There was a pause on my end for a second.

Then it dawned on me, "Do you mean you've been feeling lethargic?"

That is what she meant. I guess I'll check webmd.com later for "word mixing up", and ask her to see a doctor about that one.

Like A Child

In my life as a nanny, I have many moments where the student becomes the teacher, so to speak. The twins just celebrated their second birthday, therefore entering that time of life known to parents everywhere as "the terrible two's." So far, they have been more like terrific two's but once in a while I see a precursor of what is to come. Like once in a while, they will be pointing at something, like a cookie for instance, and trying to communicate to me that they want the cookie. I will not give them the cookie, because come on, they hadn't even eaten one carrot yet. So, the pleading will escalate. Their voices get louder and more shrill. Before you know it, they have that look on their face. It's what I call the calm before the storm. Their faces get really red and with mouth open wide they take a long breath. Then, comes the screaming. The throw-yourself-on-the-ground, pound-your-fists, wake-up-the-whole-neighborhood-screaming. The easy way out would be to throw a cookie at them, which they would probably catch in their mouth like a seal. That, or invent a time machine and go back to the very beginning of time when they were first deciding what would be healthy food and what would be junk. If I could somehow convince the cavemen to label fruits and vegetables as treats, my problems would be over. However, usually by the time the tantrum is in full swing, there is nothing you can do anyways, but wait it out. This is extremely tough to do. I recommend talking in a normal tone to anybody in the room who is sane or pretend to be engrossed in washing dishes.
As I'm hoping these moments can become fewer and further between, I turned to the internet for some advice. I found an article about tantrums. First of all, I learned that they are a biological fact of life. You cannot feel like a bad caregiver because the babies are just doing what babies do. Secondly, I learned an interesting tactic for how to deal. The author suggested to get down to the child's level, forget using logical explanations ("Cookies are not good for you. You have to eat healthy foods to grow up strong..."), identify with their feelings ("I know you are upset."), and comfort them the minute they start slowing down.
HOLY MOLY. What a great philosophy for life! It totally works. But I'm not sure if it only applies to two year olds. There are times when I can't exactly express how I feel with words. I feel as though my communication skills are no match for the problem in front of me. How great would it be if somebody would look me in the eye, hold my shoulders, and say "Laura, I understand how you feel." Then they would pull me in for a hugsie.
John Mayer had it right- Say What You Need To Say. But when you can't, find comfort in others. And when you see somebody who is in need, it'll be your turn to curb the tantrum before a time-out is warrented.

Back Again

I went back to school again...
Here is the brief summary of my weekend..



Coming down the escalator, "Welcome to Pitt" the sign read
I am too hungry to wait for food, happy meals instead?
A trip to the library, to see some who were there
So many people to say hi to, so many people who care!
Driving down the country roads, with John Denver on full blast
Remembering making this trip so many times in the past
Hanging out with my best friends at a bar
Knowing we will always stay close, no matter how far

Waking up to familiar pleas
Can we have pizza hut buffet...extra cheese?
A trip to Mass, setting my priorties straight
Then it was time for something new- a surprise date!
All afternoon spent at a pottery shop painting
By the time we left Pittsburgh, we were dating ;)
The next step was getting ready for formal
I spent the whole time chatting with people, like seeing them everyday was normal
My boyfriend and I went to a Robin that was Red
I wouldn't have gone anywhere else instead
After the dance was over and my feet needed a rub
Off we went to speedway- it was time for the slurpie club!

Talking all night, the morning came fast
I ran errands and ate, got to the party last
Hung out in the sunshine with a lot of cool peeps
But left to go to Mass because I am a lost sheep!
After that it was time for some nice porch time
Ate Chinese food, talked, and drank some wine
Then it was off through the streets of ghetto town
To see a stud playing rugby and turn his frown upside down
The sun set that day on our crowd being together
we drank and were merry, like birds of a feather

The last day of my trip, I went to the zoo
saw elephants, tigers, and giraffes- whoop di doo!
I might have left out some details but it was a lot of fun
Can't wait to visit again soon and see those sons of a gun!


Thank you to everybody who made my trip fantastic! ;)

Identical Cousins

I want to share further proof of the power of nature over nurture. On my Mom's side of the family I have an uncle and an aunt (both married) and two cousins. My aunt still lives in town, so we grew up seeing her all the time, but my uncle moved away after college. As kids, we always enjoyed visits from my cousins, but they were few and far between. I would say, to put it into perspective, that I knew some of my friends' cousins better than I knew my own.

Due to my recent move to the Garden State, a few towns away from my extended family, I was able to get back in touch with them. They were gracious enough to invite me for Easter weekend.

My uncle and aunt came to pick me up and the whole ride, my aunt was turned around in her seat watching me as I talked and talked about my life. Later that night, we had some martinis (them) and daquaris (me) and had a very pleasant conversation. It's always different talking to people who knew me as a child now that I'm an adult. It was like I was meeting them for the first time. As I was getting ready to head up to bed, my aunt declared that I would be very surprised the next day when my cousin arrived. When I asked her why she explained that we obviously had the same genes, we were so much alike. She said that we both nodded our heads in an affirming way after making a statement, made the similar facial expressions, and used the same word choices. She had noticed since the very moment she saw me, and said all she could think about all day was how identical we had ended up.

She was exactly right. As soon as my cousin showed up, I started realizing our similarities. Our looks were the first thing. She has naturally wavy brown hair, olive skin, and the "Carson" smile, just like me. Then, little things started happening. We noticed that we take our coffee the same way, like the same foods, dislike the same foods, indulge in the same hobbies, shy away from the same insecurites...just EVERYTHING. She mentioned that she didn't like that her wedding shower was on the 13th of the month. I asked her, on a whim, if she would ever leave the radio volume on an odd number, to which she was horrified- Never! She looked as horrified as I feel about odd numbers. It finally became the joke. If my aunt wanted to ask us both a question, she would just ask one and assume that the other agreed!

It was an absolutely lovely weekend. There were a lot of laughs and good times, delicious food and perfect hospitality. I was so pleased with how alike my cousin and I had turned out. I was even happier that we had gotten back in touch and can remain friends forever. It's nice to have somebody I can call up to talk about how much I hate the color orange. And I know she'll completely understand.

The Truth Comes Out

You may have noticed that it's been awhile since I've written. You did notice? I bet you didn't know that in addition to not blogging, I haven't written a letter, journal entry, or even a newsy email in a while either. Why?- you may ask.

Here's the thing. I'm in that place. That place in my life where it's almost six months after college graduation, I'm about to face student loan payments, and I still don't know what I want to do with my life. As frustrating as this sounds, I'm really not that anxious. I think a lot of people are a bit concerned, but I know everything will turn out great. It's just that I figured I'd probably go into the writing field, since that's what I studied in college. I overlooked the fact that I chose that major, not because I was good at it or even especially liked it, but because it was something that incorporated two hobbies of mine- reading and writing. It just finally hit me that those are only hobbies! It is what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. For me, a job will never define my life, and so it doesn't really matter what I do to pay the bills. I just know though that I can't ruin my love and passion for the written word by making it work.

That is why I have not been writing lately. As soon as I started job searching, my brain associated writing with work and went into shut down mode. I'm not sure what job I will have in the future, but I know that I will never make the mistake of trying to define myself with the job title I hold. "Writer" sounded good to me, because by definition, that's what I am. However, I'd rather leave it as a hobby, so I can continue to enjoy it forever.

More to come

Last night I was in the city and I bumped into an old classmate of mine. We spent a few minutes catching up, and then came the 50 million dollar question...
Are you still writing?


I couldn't lie. I've been slacking. Allow this post to symbolize my pledge to blog more consistently. I'll catch up this week...I promise!