My childhood came before seatbelts were mandatory in cars, much less carseats for children. I spent my toddlerhood standing on the bench seat of our car, beside my mother, tucked behind her shoulder, or sitting in her lap, or, when I was just too wiggly, in the backseat tumbling like a tumbleweed. I’m glad for carseats now. Especially since cars are so much dinkier than they used to be.
I love that picture. Kiddos run and run, like puppies, until they just stop, flop over, and fall into the exhausted innocence of their sleep.
I should be asleep right now, but I am going to see the dentist tomorrow, and you all know about my dental anxiety. Can’t sleep. Crowns will eat me. That’s my motto for the night.
What else? I watched the Katy Perry movie and wanted to put her in my pocket. Even though I realize I am being manipulated by a media machine, it is a happy manipulation. I found myself truly smiling in several places, and dang if I didn’t shed a tear for the girl when her marriage ended.
I was a fan of Russell Brand’s until I read his second book, and then I thought, “This is a person who wants someone else to fix him, but does not want to do any of the work to fix himself, and does not want to take responsibility for keeping it fixed. This is a person who wants a minder, or a nanny, or a valet.” And I felt sorry for Katy Perry because it was clear that as soon as he realized she hadn’t fixed him, he was going to be moving on.
Fixing is funny.
I wrote a long, long post earlier about how embarrassed and ashamed I used to be of the fact I had hoarded so much clothing (even saving things from junior high long after I was past college, while still buying compulsively), and how that hoarding had led to me being nearly buried in my own wardrobe. I wrote about how my friend Stephanie came over to help me declutter and organize, how she came over to fix me. But what Stephanie fixed was the symptom of my problem, not my problem, so within weeks of her decluttering my space, I had destroyed it once again. (I will always be thankful for what Stephanie tried to do to help me.)
I had to learn to let go of things. I had to learn to part with and separate myself from the physical wall I was using to protect myself from things both in and outside of me. I had to find the root of my problem (which was fear), and I had to work it out.
I still struggle with compulsive shopping. Even if it is just picking up $1 bin items. It is very difficult for me to go into a store and buy just exactly what I went in to get. I am much, much healthier about it than I once was, though. Now, I might compulsively buy myself a coffee. I haven’t been on a mad spree in over a decade.
I’ve been hunting for that picture for a while, wanting to post it. I used to be incredibly ashamed of it. I’m not proud of it now, but I can look at it and see a girl who was struggling, and a girl who needed help–not a nasty, lazy girl. No one lives like that because they like living that way. They live like that because something is wrong. Happily, I am a woman who sought help, and am a hundred times healthier.
Now, if I could just convince myself to go to sleep…
The Outside Lane 