*** See update below. A wedding story for all. And Amy as Belle!

If anyone has noticed my absence, please don't take it personally. I've been stressed, overworked and cranky. You didn't do anything wrong. Nobody did. Not even me.

Sometimes life comes at us so hard we have to duck and cover, hunker down, protect our own and eventually, try to regroup. I wanted to explain, but I'm too tired to be as clever as my internal creative bar requires.

So I decided I'd put my penchant for lists to productive use. It took me no time to come up with five reasons I'm cranky. In fact, I had to winnow the list to the most important reasons only.

Then I started thinking about why I'm not cranky ... who's making me happy or proud, what's going on that soothes my soul or lifts my spirits, where my blessings are showing.

And just like that, my day got a lot better. My week got better. You should try this.

Five Reasons I'm Cranky (in no particular order):


Accident, Surgery, Recovery

1. Two weeks ago my sister Judy totaled her car. Last Wednesday she had knee surgery. All day in the hospital, then home to my house for a week to recuperate. Judy's helped me through four surgeries (including knee), so I am more than happy to refill my karma bank taking care of her.

But she's not the most compliant patient. Older sisters who are also nurses rarely are... Hey, Judy! You just had surgery! You're loopy on pain killers. Don't do my laundry on crutches, get the hell back to bed! Stuff like that.

2. My niece Karen (Judy's daughter) has been feeling especially awful from the last round of chemo. Every night while Mom sleeps we talk on the phone, review drugs, diet, any and all feel-better options.

We try to find silver linings. Sometimes she just needs a shoulder to cry on. I can't save her or help her nearly enough and that hurts me too.

3. The damn Democrats can't seem to find their damn asses with both hands. Which they have also been sitting on (their hands, not their asses). They lose where and what they should win, most often because they're too busy fighting among themselves to remember they're supposed to be fighting for the American people.

Our president is prooving either ill-equipped or ill-advised (or both) to handle them. They are grinding Hope and Change into dust before our eyes. Don't EVEN get me started on this one.

Sinus Infections




4. I have a brutal sinus infection, complete with abscess ...headaches, earaches, face and nose raw, head pounding, ears thundering... next step CT scan, after that could be surgery. Yeah, right... up your nose with a rubber hose!

Haiti, America, Haitians, Americans

5. As much as I care, in a genuine, humanitarian way, about the horror in Haiti, I wonder why some other country can't pick up the tab for a change. Why not, say, Dubai? Does it always have to be the U S of A?

When will our leaders really notice there are millions of people suffering horribly in this country and not enough resources to help them? Why didn't President Obama appoint former presidents Clinton and Bush to raise money for all the hard-working AMERICANS buried under mountains of debt and unemployment and lousy healthcare and foreclosures and crime and PTSD and worse, who desperately need help?

Or, if America must step up for Haiti, why not assess a few million in "relief funds" from all the fat cat GOP CEO's. You know the ones -- Cheney's pals. It's time to make those greedy bastards pay the rest of us reparations for looting our future.

Five Reasons I'm Not Cranky

1. It took a marathon 7-hour day this week, but Judy and I managed to get her a stylin new (well, gently used), very safe car. It's perfect, she loves it, I'm a little jealous but very happy to see her grin like a teenager when she gets behind the wheel. Ride, Judy, ride!

2. Karen's daughter Amy has the lead in the school musical. After months of rehearsals it opened Thursday, sold out performances to run all weekend. Joy abounds as we all put aside everything else for a magic 90 minutes to watch and clap and cheer (and kvell) for our beautiful Belle in "Beauty and the Beast."

4. A wonderful, sweet, generous friend sent Judy and me the most delicious homemade cookies we've ever tasted. In a beautiful cookie tin decorated with, I just realized, a partridge in a pear tree! Her reason: just to cheer us up.

It SO worked. Small kindnesses generate huge returns. We can't thank her enough. I won't tell you her name unless she lets me, so I hope she takes a bow, but I'll leave that up to her... (Pssst, MM, take a BIG damn bow !!)

5. Now it's time for me to take a bow. This Saturday, January 23, my husband and I celebrate our 28th anniversary. Wow. Of course we've had some rough patches, but after all these years we still know how lucky we are to have each other. We still show it, too.

Our son is taking us out to dinner. His treat. I'm so proud I could burst.

***ANNIVERSARY UPDATE***

If you weren't here last year on 1.23, I offer you my story. At the very least, scroll down til you find the close-up of the top picture. My face says it all ... 28 years later, we still laugh. And love.

             How I Became A Wife Against All Odds