A wish for my future 16-17 year olds

I was driving down the street, in our very suburban neighborhood, and I saw two high school kids (my guess...juniors) standing in the doorway of her house (she was on the inside). Since I was driving slow I was able to take them in. What I saw was that look of complete immersion. Remember? That first love, where the person you are with is just THE best and nothing could be more thrilling than being in their presence? It got me to thinking about what I want for my own children. I want them to have that type of first love. With someone decent, respectful and kind. Someone they look back on, when they are 40 and blogging while their kids are upstairs sleeping, and smile. I hear so many horror stories about adolescent love and I hope that with all the craziness that comes along with growing up these days, they get that one special guy or girl who makes their teen years all worth it.

Hiring the pregnant lady

Recently Marissa Mayer, a tech star and big wig at Google, jumped ship and became the CEO of Yahoo. For us nerds this was a sort of surprising move since Yahoo has been burning through top leadership recently. I could have read the story and done a simple, "hmm, good for her" and monitored the situation over the next few months with some level of interest. It wasn't until I read that she was also pregnant that it got reeeeeally interesting. Not only does it bring up the cliched question "can women have it all?" (um no, they can not) but it also got feminists all fired up (mostly in a good way). All the implications aside, what I really connected to was the fact that the Yahoo board hired her knowing she was pregnant. Good for them! I really respect their ability to think long term and not let shortsightedness take over (as it often does). I think she will be a great leader for that company that desperately needs one. I truly hope it works out for her, both professionally and personally. Having gone through a very similar (though not nearly as high-level!) situation a few years ago, I can attest to the fact that a positive, fruitful and long term relationship can come of this initial leap of faith. I will be following the story and silently cheering Marissa on each step of the way.

Too many women

Today I made an appointment at the high risk clinic at the OSU James Cancer Center Breast Health unit. I am considered high risk for a number of reasons and am really happy to be in a city where they have a first rate cancer care. Breast cancer is always on my mind, so getting in to a program with such excellent preventive care is kind of a relief. The thing that was unsettling though was the fact that my appointment is over 6 months away. That got me thinking how many other women, just like me, are in those appointment slots from now till then...

History does not repeat itself

My Dad had a rule. I couldn't get my ears pierced until I was 12. Why 12 you may ask? I have no clue, but I suspect un-bejeweled ears made him feel like his maturing "baby" was still his baby. Needless to say the day after I turned 12 my Mom and I headed to the mall and pierced those suckers. Over the years I went on to add a total of 9 holes across two ears. Take that Dad!:).

The only thing I knew as it related to my own daughter was that I did not want to do it to her as an infant. For some reason that bugs me. But as she grew older and got "more girly" it began to creep in to the picture. The deal was pretty much sealed when our three neighbor friends got theirs pierced several months ago. IA was all about it. She even asked if she could get hers done. Why not, I thought. It looks super cute on her friends. So two weekends ago we went to a place called "Sweet and Sassy" (no kidding) and got them done. Sweet and Sassy is a "salon" for pre-teens. The place is unreal. Totally decked out in pink and glitz. But they did a fantastic job. And now my baby has bejeweled ears. Take that Dad!:)