nablopomo...its that time again...


i just realized on tuesday that it is november
which means nablopomo
{just as i also happened to realize that i had posted
twice
in one day
and thought
you know what?
maybe this is just what i need
to get me going again.}

so welcome to nablopomo
where i will commit
to coming to the page
once a day
every day
for the month of november.

i can't promise that it will always
be happy
or even interesting
but it will be here
i will be here
making an attempt

letting it go
spilling it a little
seeing what happens.

fifteen

we dance
you and i
one step forward
two steps back
you engage
i retreat
you stumble clumsily
i tromp on painfully with both feet...
going where no mom wants to be

somedays
we just have different beats.

but sometimes...
sweet sometimes...
we catch the same song
sometimes,
sweet sometimes,
i catch you humming along...

tuesday truths...


i am feeling much lighter
after that painful post...
and thank you for your comments
and for taking the time to email...
knowing you are not alone
makes things seem much more bearable.

my truths today::

i can't wait for january...to set the photography business
aside for a few months and catch my breath, to have some
time to just sit and focus on restocking myself with ideas and
inspiration...to read and write and draw and just surf the net...

and really...i think that's it.
i gave away so much of myself in the last post...
and really, this one kernel of truth
about my longing for january
feels much bigger
than it looks
in print.

it feels tangible...like i want to keep it in my pocket
and take out the idea of january
whenever i feel stressed and deadlined and
so. far. behind.

maybe i will...
maybe i will put it in my pocket.

it's no secret...but there is a revelation



i don't think it's been a secret that i've been
struggling
a little lately

with family issues
with money issues
doubting myself in so many
arenas
of my life...
professionally
as a mother
as a wife
as a daughter
as a photographer
as a friend
as a person
as an artist
as a writer
as a blogger

i'm not sure what i am going through.

somedays it feels like adolescence
all
over
again.

i'm not sure who i am
i'm not sure where i'm going
i feel like every day i'm putting on a new face
and wondering
is this me? is this who i am.
is that what i represent?
is this where i'm going?

i feel like i am on a roller coaster of emotion
and for the first time in my life
the lows have been
extremely fucking low.
low like i don't think i can get out of bed.
low like the feeling of suffocation.
and i can't breathe.
and disconnect.
like i just don't want to think anymore.
like i just can't think anymore.
like i just don't want to care anymore.

yesterday felt like a turning point for me.

a culmination of rotten-ess eventually saw me
running up the stairs in tears an hour before my son's
birthday party feeling like a failure feeling like i suck as a mom
and throwing myself on my bed in hot angry uncontrollable tears
and then bursting into tears on the way to walmart
and again at the checkout.

but then.
the revelation.
which came when my brother and his wife got here
and one of my best childhood friends
and as the party went on
i realized
it didn't matter.


i realized that when i let go of the picture in my head
of how the party should be
when i let go of all the reasons it couldn't be the party
my mind thought it should be
when i let go of thinking of how other people might think
the party should be
and just let the kids, namely eleven...direct the party...
it would be ok.
there were balloons and noise and music and utter chaos
but
there was laughter.
so much laughter...and conversations shouted out above
the balloon warfare...and stories told...and chocolate cake.

and i realize now
that i have to let go a little.
that i am killing myself with my own expectations of myself.
that i am suffocating myself.
i am doing this.
no one else is doing it to me.
i am doing it.

so today.
saturday october 30 2010
i am making a pact with myself
to ease up.
to let go.
to laugh a little more
and stress a lot less.

{and if you have made it through this long post to
the end, i am wondering if anyone else has felt this way at 40?
is this what mid life crisis is?
i would love to hear from anyone that might
recognize themselves in this...
if only to justify my own behavior to myself
and know that i am not losing my mind.}

9 things i have done this week


-listened to damien rice over and over...at the computer, in the car
specifically blower's daughter and delicate...i am entranced.

-took a handful of smurfs, ninjas, a small ice cream cone and
a dinosaur to the park for a photo shoot

-planned an impromptu birthday party

-dealt with the meeting of a new boyfriend for 15

-dealt the subsequent break up

-saw the most amazing sunrise yesterday...full on hot pink whole sky
breath taking mind numbing trees a black sillhouette on the horizon

-ate fruit loops and watched it's the great pumpkin charlie brown

-wondered why it feels like there is always one ball on the floor,
why can't i keep them all in the air at the same time....

-recieved the most happiest of mail last night...my BOOK
from liz....i can't wait to tear into it, to sink into it, to lose
myself in it...but first, i'll make myself wait until the moment
is. just. right.