Suzi! Buckle your seat belt!

Of course, it's also the greatest thing ever, with every single day with them better than all of the days that came before them. How can all of these things be true at once? It is the koan of parenthood.

Exactly! Very well put.

I remember with my first thinking how much physical dignity you lose immediately. Even if you're not the birth mom with the crowd that usually gathers delivery, as a parent you're spit up on, bitten, your hair is pulled, you're scratched. That first year, as much as I loved it, I also desperately wanted a cone of silence where nothing could touch me once in a while.

Possibly I am chuckling at this only because I have no children, but this is hilarious.

Rick made me chortle too and I have kids.

meara, yes. They are more expensive than you would think (to replace the lenses in a pair of Burberry frames, for me, was $160 and my prescription is very mild), but you can do it at a place like lenscrafters.

I stood up in school and said that when I grew up, I wanted to be an educational consultant, like my mom. I still barely know what she actually does!

My kids (turning 4 in a couple of weeks) know that their parents are professors but they don't know quite what that is. They do have teachers at their university-based preschool though, and one of their older and more sophisticated classmates helpfully explained that "a professor like a teacher except you don't teach anything," which is pretty close to the view held by our skeptical state legislators.

Noah said he wanted to be a teacher and when both of teacher-moms heard we convinced him otherwise. Grace wisely decided she wanted to be a nurse or a doctor (though she will need math for that, so...).

mac has been to work with me at the last 4 jobs. He thinks work is for the birds. Can't say that he is wrong.

Rick I think your statement is completely accurate.

You know what's funny, I complain about work all of the time and I'd prefer to live a life of leisure (who wouldn't?!) but I also genuinely enjoy my job and feel a sense of deep rooted fulfillment around it. I don't love the need to work, I guess, but I love what I do.

And this year? I have learned a ridiculous amount. I'm teaching Grapes of Wrath for the first time (a book I have hated since high school) and damned if I'm not enjoying the book and the teaching. I taught 1 Their Eyes Were Watching God, a book I promised myself to never teach, and again, loved it.

I'm teaching 1 Macbeth which has been 100% fun (even though I've taught it before) and I taught a slew of short stories that were great.

I feel like this year, 16 years in, I'm still learning and I guess that is what makes my job enjoyable, even when the stuff outside of that makes me nuts.

Wow, b.org is really slow for me right now. I've been clicking on links on b.org and then doing some work for a bit before checking back to see if the page has loaded yet.