2005: Year in Review

Third annual edition! (2003, 2004)

In almost every way, 2005 was the best year yet:

• Son: Owen James was born the morning of January 5, after just five hours in the hospital and two very pleasant rounds of epidural.He came out with 10 fingers and 10 toes and and a wrinkly, pissed-off expression. He was perfect. Life changed forever the moment I held him, and the awe, wonder, and love I felt then just grew deeper and more powerful as the days flew by.
• Spouse: I also got to meet my husband again, in a sense: in his new role as Dad. From Owen’s birth onward, Iain’s been a stellar father, calm and relaxed. He’s also been a strong, unwavering source of support for me, always in my corner, always there to talk sense into me when I ask for it, always ready to hold my hand.As life in general changes after a baby is born, so did our marriage. We don’t spend as much time one-on-one as we did before, but our team efforts are twice as strong. Our relationship has gotten better, more relaxed, more confident, more stable with each passing month. I feel very lucky.
• Family: Similarly, my relationship with my parents and my brothers and sisters [Five, all younger, all born to same parents, all very cool people in their own right] has, I feel, changed definitively this year. While in the past the tug of family ties felt binding and constrictive, this year, with a child, I welcome the threads that keep us connected, and wish they didn’t have to be quite so long — I really enjoy my family. I wish I lived closer. And I wish Owen lived closer.
• Work and Web: I went back to work part-time when my maternity leave was up, joining a legion of parents who [rightfully] complain about the price of daycare and the struggle to find balance between work and home. I had a rough start emotionally, but I’m blessed to have a job I love at a company that is very family-friendly. I’m proud of the work I’ve done so far, enough so that I’m submitting samples of it to several contests “in the field.”The internet, too, has been very good to me. I’ve made a bunch of really good mama friends who live inside the computer. Though they hail from Boston, Texas, Canada, and other parts far, far away, I feel like they’re right here with me sometimes, doing Vodka shooters and discussing Steve Buscemi as our babies flutter around underfoot. I love you guys. [and thank God for closed forums, eh?]I also love that I have been able to turn my love of the Internet into work. All those years of fucking around with my weblog is starting to pay off in freelance, which I enjoy immensely. Probably too much. But looking ahead to the future of both newspapers and the Web, I think a double skillset such as the one I have will come in very, very handy, for me and for my employer.

As Sinatra said, It was a very good year. I’m optimistic for Ought Six, and as such, I have a few goals:

• Quit smoking. Again.
• Save money to be put into improvements on the house
• Escort Owen to his second birthday without calamity
• Try not to get pregnant with No. 2 yet
• Worry less, smile more, tell world to fuck off if I need to

Pretty simple. Let’s see if I met my goals for this year:

• Save another $10,000, or at least enough to make some larger improvements to the house.
• Successfully birth this bambino and get him to his first birthday without major calamity.
• Find a balance between work and home, husband and baby, immediate and extended families, self and others.
• Kick Iain’s ass at Monopoly. Just once.

No, yes, yes, and GODDAMMIT, No I did NOT. Ah, well, there’s always next year.

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