Catching up

Hey everyone, it's been a long time. We have been climbing out of the shock of having two children ever so slowly, but things are becoming more manageable day by day. As Owen still only catnaps, the few minutes I have sans kiddos are mostly devoted to eating, bathing and cleaning up (in that order). Any time Owen is content or napping while Ellie's around, I'm working on giving her some attention, which she soaks up like a sponge having had it drop off so radically the past half a year. Ellie's learning to be a big sister and is off and on excited and annoyed by it all. She loves her friends (new and old), school, books and gymnastics classes. Owen has rolled over, is laughing, loves to be close to his mama and is just generally a delight. Ryan is working like crazy and coming home late but doing his best to engage the kiddos the few hours in the week he has with them while really catching up on the weekends. Walking by boxes unopened and empty walls is starting to get to me, so one of these days our house will get the attention it deserves, but until then we're getting the hang of it here. We have two healthy, usually happy, beautiful kiddos and we are grateful.
I know not everyone reading this blog shares my political views and so I write cautiously and respectfully, but I have to share that the election of Obama has greatly enlivened my attitude towards the future of our country, the world and has somehow given me hope that living in Germantown, Tennessee will be okay for our family. This is a relief, as the transition to living in a community in which the dominant values expressed are often at odds with mine has caused a lot of worry, angst, regret and just tears. It's tiresome to be so self-aware. Yesterday and just again this morning folks have commented to me that I was "such an interesting person". (These comments arising after learning I was nursing and then that I'd been to Africa.) Hmmmm --when things are going well I can take that in a positive way, but I often remember that in the midwest, "interesting" and "different" are often euphemisms for things we're not sure about and probably don't like. While I can't be certain that's what that means down here, I'm conscious of being somehow different and have been doing a lot of laying low, even compromising with how I present myself. (I put the Obama bumpersticker on my car, but we didn't put a yard sign.) I still wonder how much conforming (shopping, primping, keeping up with the Joneses) will creep into our lives here despite our best efforts, but with Obama's election I'm keeping my chin just a little higher. Those who have known me for years know of the irony that I'm a "corporate wife" and a stay at home mom living in the suburbs. And while I wholeheartedly embrace being a mom and being married and can make peace with the suburban part, I don't want to be defined solely by those labels. This election is an affirmation that there are kindred spirits in all corners of this country (even Germantown!), that there are people who are passionate about progress, proof that so many who struggled before us have not done so in vain. More personally, it gives me hope for Ellie and Owen's futures and makes me feel that, even in Germantown and Memphis, there is momentum towards change that our family can be a part of and work to affect. That makes me joyful, makes us all joyful. Just look at Owen laughing! And for those of you who know Ryan's dad Dave, can you believe how similar this laugh is?