1. Do you have a smartphone?
I do: an iPhone. My dear husband was very sure that I needed one, and I certainly do appreciate the convenience! I'd probably never ever get the chance to blog if I didn't have one, for example. But I don't need it, and if we ever have to pare down our monthly budget, I like to think that I'd go back to a brick phone without too much reluctance. Actually, I might be sadder about giving up my case than the phone itself:
A leather "book," with slots/pockets inside for my ID, credit card, gym card, library card... As long as I won't be gone for hours, any time I leave the house I really just have to grab my phone and there's no chance of my having forgotten anything. So convenient!
2. Which is your favorite meal of the day?
Definitely supper! Breakfast is usually a haphazard affair, lunch for Little Bear and I winds up being crackers and cheese and fruit more often than I'd like to admit, but supper is a proper meal: planned, shopped for, prepared over the course of sometimes several hours... Grilling makes summertime suppers spectacular. Cozy casseroles are a highlight of my winters. And I really enjoy taking a meal idea and playing with it to come up with something new and delicious, like Friday's zucchini faux-lasagna and tilapia parmesan. That supper is usually the only meal Matt is here to eat with us is a part of my preference for it, I'm sure; I'd probably put more effort into, and draw more enjoyment from, making lunches or breakfasts if I was sharing them with someone who wasn't likely to drop half the food on the floor.
3. Shower or bath?
Shower! My back always hurts, and a hot shower is pretty much the only thing that regularly helps (because chiropractors and massage therapists are expensive!). I know showers aren't as economical a use of water, but growing up with six siblings, I learned to take five-minute showers... so that's not a terribly extravagant use of water. Baths have always bothered me; the dirt and dust and sweat all wash off your body and just stay there in the water with you. Am I actually all that much cleaner after a bath, or did I just get wet?
4. Think of a person you love. How many days have you been in love with that person? (Don't worry, this site will do the math for you. And, hey, now you can order this card!)
So, I came to this question, and read it twice. Maybe three times. Then I texted Matt, and we managed to pin down the circumstances of the first time we said "I love you" to each other, but we can't remember when exactly it was. Sometime shortly before Easter 2010, most likely during Triduum. But the phrasing "how long have you been in love" keeps jarring me out of trying to figure out when I first realized that I loved Matt and sending me into philosophical/linguistic musings on the meaning of "in love." What does that mean to be "in love"? Is "in-love-ness" a particular subcategory of Eros or Agape, or completely separate? Why is a locative preposition involved? I finally gave up and just plugged in the date that we found out I was pregnant with Little Bear: We've loved this wonderful, frustrating, hilarious little boy for 930 days.
5. What's the best church you've ever been in?
No real question here... by far the most beautiful church I've been in was St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cathedral of Parma, Ohio.
I've never seen an iconostasis like that anywhere else. Among Roman-rite Catholic churches, perhaps the most beautiful I've been in is St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
6. Happy Feast of the Visitation (on Saturday)! Has anyone ever come to help YOU?
Visitation on Saturday, belated-Ascension today (Counting: you learned it in kindergarten. If Pentecost Sunday [Whitsunday] is ten days after Ascension, how can Ascension be celebrated on a Sunday? Bah.) and a bunch of feast days this coming week leading up to Pentecost! Including St. Boniface, patron of breweries, on Thursday... I'll have to remind Matt. So much going on right now!
No, I've never had someone come stay with me to help. It seems like it would be uncomfortable, having another adult in the house right after a major life change like having a baby... I know I'd spend way too much energy stressing about the person judging me as being a bad wife/mother because I couldn't take care of everything, even though whatever it was that had me unable to take care of things would be the reason that were there... That was a confusing sentence. I don't actually think that someone who cared enough to come stay and help would be judging me; I just know that I would probably be stressing about them doing so regardless of logic.
Matt has a very generous leave package from the university, though, and has been able to take off as much time as we needed after Little Bear was born, when I had oral surgery, after Alex's death, etc. We've also been blessed to live in the same area as my family, and my mom has always been quick to offer to take Little Bear when I need a hand, or to send a meal over at times I'm having trouble cooking. There have been a bunch of times the last few years that I really don't know what we would have done without her help.
Apparently it's been 2284 days since I fell in love with Scott. (How I picked that day is a story for another time.) Man, I'm old.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, it's been 428 days since I told him that the Baby Geek Project had entered Phase 2. (Yes, that's actually what I said. We're weird.)
2284 days? That sounds like quite a story!
DeleteAnd that was an excellent way to tell Scott about Tad... I may have to remember that idea for next time. :-)
I love a good iconostasis, especially ones that are a few levels : ) Found you from the link-up!
ReplyDeleteOh, yes! I've seen one like that, but can't remember the name of the church so I couldn't go look for photos. But they are beautiful!
DeleteWhen I bought my first cell-phone which also took photos; whenever it rang I used to press the wrong button and take a picture of my ear.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.