The "Ground Zero mosque" is down the block from my dad's office. The summer after 9/11, when I was home from college, one of the things that made me feel a whole lot better was going to visit that neighborhood and seeing that things were getting back to normal -- people working, shopping, eating, whatever. This desire to turn all of Lower Manhattan into sacred ground is kind of creepy to me. It's not like they're building on the WTC site -- they're building on what used to be a Burlington Coat Factory, and was a Sym's before that.

Yeah, it's not a damn shrine, its a living breathing city. The people in that neighborhood, the actual fucking survivors of the attack spent months and months putting their homes and businesses back together and rebuilding their lives.

It was kind of a relief when large swaths of the contry went back to hating us, but couldn't they just leave us alone now?

but couldn't they just leave us alone now?

Sort of a city-wide "We're walkin' here!"

Niece!! [link]

Me, Calli, and Debetesse!! [link]

Em's new Miracle Princess t-shirt, courtesy of Debetesse!! [link]

Your niece is lovely, Aims! And it's great that your outfits are coordinated in the photo.

Thanks!! Her onesie says "My Aunt is my BFF!"

I got her 4 of them in varying sizes.

Aimee you're so tan!

Also I loathe climate change because I really want to be comfortably asleep right now.

OMG. I am currently on my laptop in my basement bedroom, because it is actually cool. Last night I had the worst time sleeping--one of the few nights it hasn't gotten cool enough, quickly enough, to make sleep easy even if it was hot during the day. And I couldn't get the fan pointed at me, and I kept waking up, and and and...

Lots of time on the lake and at the pool!

after using my highly technical time-measuring device (aka HKFan), I think that it was about 6 years ago. I'd love to see the pics. That was a great wedding (and great people getting married, and great people attending). Except for the pregnancy-sunburn where I looked like Shamu (in patterning).

Ahahaha! My technical time-measuring device is Lillian, because I know it was shortly before I got pregnant. I'll try to put some (friends accessed under Mohmlet) up on Flickr.

Em, such a big girl. Unpossible.

erika! I did phone banking today for the first time! You inspired me.

Hi, peoples!

I was out of town all weekend, starting Thursday after work. This was the trip that The Boy's family planned back in January to celebrate his parents' 50th wedding anniversary. His dad decided that we should still go, so away we went.

We rented a house in/near a huge state park in mid-Ohio. Zero cell phone coverage and no internet. Dark ages, man.

Actually, it was a nice time, despite the interludes of screaming-howling-wailing tantrums thrown by the 18-month-old. (That whole not-having-kids thing? Yeah. If I had ever been wavering, this weekend sealed my resolve. Fuck no, man.) We hiked to a cool-ass cave and waterfall yesterday (where "hiked" is a synonym for "moseyed along a flat, paved path through the woods"). Actually, I think it's excellent that the park system made that trail accessible -- our group had a stroller, and we saw other people with scooters and wheelchairs. And it's gorgeous (here's a photo: [link] and here's another: [link] which makes me even happier that it's accessible. Like, they make an effort to make the prettiest sights accessible, not just a 10 x 10 hole in a rock somewhere.

Anyway, we didn't actually do a whole lot, but it was still nice. I got super weepy this morning when we were leaving, though, and no one else was, which made me feel like a fool who can't control her emotions. I mean, I totally get that everyone was sad, and everyone is going to grieve in their own way. I'm not suggesting they weren't sad or weren't grieving. But when I was the only one crying like crazy, I just felt...silly. No one made me feel silly, but I felt like I was the drama queen in a house full of stoics. (Which is, more or less, how it was.)

So I'm tired, because it was emotional, and because I'm the princess and the pea and can never sleep well if I'm not in my own bed.

Really, it was a good time, and it seemed like everyone had a good time, especially Tim's dad -- he was VERY glad we went -- but god DAMN, I am tired.