The Non Book Club

Julie from book club had a tummy tuck and breast reduction three weeks ago. She looked great at book club last night. I took an informal poll—of all the women who had babies, how many wanted some kind of plastic surgery? Of the 7 – 8 women who had kids, only one did not something done (this was not me). Tummy tucks, breast lifts/reductions/augmentations seem to top the list. Those with bigger breasts want them smaller… those with smaller breasts want them bigger. I guess we always want what we don’t have. Or want what we once had, in my case. I wonder if the book clubs of 20 years ago or even 10 or 5 years ago were so open about their desire for plastic surgery. Does this make us vain? I asked the one woman who didn’t want anything done. I think it’s more about wanting to feel good about ourselves.

We set a new record last night and talked about the book for about 30 seconds. I think this happens because there are so many things to catch up on. Kathleen proposed that we start meeting every 2 weeks because there is too much information to share if we only meet every 6 weeks. I think of Kim over there in China having to actually discuss the book. I wonder if they are talking about allegories and symbolism and all those other things we used to talk about in English classes in high school. I really don’t know why I always make sure the book is read before the meeting. I finished the book at 6:10 PM and book club started at 6:30 PM. We had a combined birthday party (for Lisa)/going away party (for Julie—going to Pittsburgh which we think is crazy… you don’t LEAVE Arizona right before the winter). Lisa is Puerto Rican and her mom made delicious Mexican food for us. We went through a lot of margarita mix. Well, not just the mix. Jill wanted to know why Kathleen wasn’t married. Kathleen lives with the father of her child in a committed relationship (this man is also about a decade her junior which we are all very impressed with). Kathleen said something like, Why don’t you ask me something less personal like how often we have sex? I thought that was funny. Jill asked why I was so quiet last night and the truth is: you really can’t get a word in edgewise with this group. But that’s OK because sometimes it’s more fun to listen. Especially to the stories that are told with this group.

My hair is falling out in clumps. I am bald around my forehead. This is a post-partum thing for me and is very sad because the only time I have really thick hair is when I am pregnant. But then 3 – 4 months later it all falls out. Brian doesn’t have much sympathy for me but I think there is a big difference between a woman losing her hair and a man losing his hair.

I appreciated all the comments regarding Brian’s vasectomy. I love comments from the blog readers. Brian appears to be good as new just 2 – 3 days later.

The past couple days I have started to feel that my life is controlling me versus me controlling my life. Work has really started to crank. I work on things that are ambiguous and require clarity to be driven from the ambiguity. Most people like to have something more specific to work on. I do OK with the ambiguity but it takes time to turn it into something that people can go off and do. I’ve been trying to have my Friday afternoons free so that I can spend a little extra time with my kids but yesterday I had meeting after meeting after meeting pop up on Friday afternoon. I resent that because in my mind, I thought I’d be spending time with Ty. I am also a little worried about the flight to the east coast on Friday. We did buy four seats versus having Ty as a lap child. 5 hours in a crowded plane and a baby on your lap does not make for a happy mom and dad. The reality of paying over a $1000 for airplane tickets from now on is a bit overwhelming—but well worth it to see family.