NO Profile
Who the heck am I?
I go by "No" on these pages in the interest of security, however
mythical. I am on the cusp of 39 years old. I am happily
married to C (who has already reached 39) and it has been almost 14
years since he said yes and 13 years since we said "I do." We
have two children, both boys. A is six and B is almost 8.
They are often mistaken for twins, but remain 20 months apart, no
matter how much A wants to catch up to his brother. We've warned
them both that this may happen in speed, strength, height or weight
(but not age). Nevertheless, they are pretty evenly matched so
far. They wear all the same clothing except for taste
differences, B is taller by less than a centimeter, and A is heavier by
less than a kilo.
I've grown up self-identifying as a writer. I've written poetry,
essays, short stories, blog entries, and 50,000 words towards a novel
last year. I am in the midst of an experiment trying to catch up
on my correspondence and online writing and to see if penning 50,000
words to others will do the trick. Then next month I intend to
try another 50,000 word novel. If you want to join me (and
others), here's the organizing web force - NaNoWriMo.
Our family is currently living in the Netherlands. This is hard,
in general. It is getting easier in some ways, and we are making
our home here. We believe that by the time we leave and return to
Seattle (fall of 2010), we will be glad we've come. Still, there
are times when we (each or all) miss our home, life, friends, family,
community, activities, conveniences, or language immensely. The
ups and downs of our expat lives are chronicled in detail on my blog
pages. My husband keeps his own blog as well.
Employment seems to be one of the chief ways one defines oneself in
America (What do you do?). I have had jobs I hated, jobs I loved,
jobs I don't bring up in polite conversation and jobs I'm proud
of. At the moment I am prohibited from working by a national
govenment and quite content with that. I have no desire to ever
go back to a 9-5 plus commute job, but periodicallly contemplate what
I'd like to do for money someday. I now work at parenting and
making and maintaining a home. On the whole, it's a job I'm
pretty proud of. I enjoy feeding my family well, cooking, baking,
and putting up food. I like working in the garden, but am better
at the periodic, non-time-sensitive tasks than maintenance and
harvesting. I take a lot of satisfaction in a clean room, but
don't enjoy the drudgery that it takes to get there, even when I'm good
at it.
I live a pretty wonderful life by many measures (including my
own).
I'm happy. I have a fantastic family, both immediate and
extended. I
am rich in many ways and conscious of the need to spend that wealth
(monetary wealth, wealth of skills, connections, spirit and knowledge)
in responsible ways to the betterment of the world. I try to keep
our footprint on this Earth small. I worry about the future and
the direction civilization (and America in particular) is headed.
I hang my clothes to dry them, I try to buy food in season and grown or
produced nearby, and the kids know I have no intention of ever taking
them or picking them up from school in a car. I believe that the
things that I do, even the small things, are both worth doing and make
a difference.
I believe in laughter, good food, sleep and food. I believe that
children want to belong. I am a feminist, an environmentalist,
and an attachment parent. I am a graduate of an elite University
and intermittantly feel I'm not doing all I "should" be with my
degree. I almost always feel that I should be doing more than I
am, and am cyclically energized or overwhelmed by that big pile of
shoulds. I am trying very hard to bring up my boys to be good
men. I love board games, books, photography, baking, and running
in the rain. I am still unfinished, but I've made a good start at
becoming who I want to be.
updated 10/14/2008