Sweet sixteen

This week at work, I had some helpers. The helpers were two of my co-workers' daughters and both of them are sixteen years old. Now, I remember myself as a sixteen year old and let's just say I copped a bit of an attitude and gave my parent's plenty of grief. ...But, these teenagers were different. Both were hardworking and respectful and refreshingly sweet. They did all I asked in helping me set up the laboratory, including mundane tasks such as making labels and hanging up wall shelves. They were also genuinely interested in learning some lab techniques I taught them. It renewed my faith that not all teenagers are self-serving and self-absorbed like those portrayed on MTV's "My Sweet Sixteen". Now, one of these girl's does drive a Volvo (her dad is the CEO of my corporation), but even still she seemed to have an appreciation for what she's been given at such a young age.

This past week also taught me something else - I will make a good mom. I could tell that by how I interacted with these girls. My mothering instinct kicked in big time. I was able to offer helpful advice and really seemed to make a good impression on both of these young ladies. It was refreshing because I don't get a lot of exposure to teenagers since my friends all have young children. Maybe I should consider volunteering for Big Brothers/Big Sisters because it was gratifying to be able to share some of my wisdom (what little I've acquired by now)!

Anyhow, I'm nursing a sinus infection I acquired over the holidays after battling a nasty cold. It was still a beautiful Christmas, despite the fact that I went to Urgent Care on Christmas Eve and then had a bad reaction to the antibiotic later that evening :( Even though I was sick, I still had a wonderful time hanging out with my hubby, parents and grandma: eating homemade barbeque and smoked ham with raisin sauce, driving around to see Christmas lights, playing the Family Feud game and Rummy 500, and watching "It's a Wonderful Life". Family bonding is so incredibly important to me. This weekend, I'm taking the time to relax, something I haven't gotten to do in a long time, especially since I worked all this week while not feeling 100%.. I'm looking forward to my weekend of nothingness very much!! (except maybe going out for New Year's if I feel up to it)..

One more thing, I dreamt this past week that Kyle and I had an adopted little girl. It was an incredible dream, full of happiness and joy. We got a call in the middle of the night and then picked her up. The next day we were surrounded by family and friends, while the both of us were holding her. I woke up that morning with such a blissful feeling. Oh, how I hope that dream becomes reality soon!! Little one, your room is all ready and waiting for you. And so are Kyle and I...

What a difference a year makes....

Last year at this time I was working at the bizzarro pharmacy in the hospital and nursing a newly acquired work-induced shoulder injury. I despised the working environment which exhuasted me both physcially and mentally- definitely not the most memorable time in my life to say the least.

This year, I've got an amazing job at a start-up scientific company doing laboratory bench work. Better yet, one of my friends from my previous job at the marine fisheries lab just accepted a position with the start-up!! In a few weeks, we will be sharing an office and working closely together every day, which I'm psyched about b/c she was my partner-in-crime at the marine fisheries lab. It will be soo nice to have that comraderie with a co-worker right from the start!!

All in all, this has been a pretty good year. Sure, Kyle and I aren't parents yet, but despite that we ARE blessed with soo much. We have a beautiful house near the ocean in a small beach town, we have strong bonds with our families, we have a lot of great and supportive friends, we are financially stable, we are healthy and physically fit, we have a waggly tailed dog and a semi-friendly cat, we both have jobs in our fields of study and most importantly, we have a very solid marriage.

We seem to have the foundation to be able to raise a child in a very loving environment. And, I have faith that this will happen sooner or later. Like my friend, Kris muses about in her most recent blog post, I'm not going to say that maybe 2007 will be the year that "we finally become parents". Because, frankly, it's not up to me when this will occur, and I'm tired of saying it. It will happen when it's meant to happen. I just hope that at the end of the year, I can sum it up as being pretty good, and that the positives outweigh the negatives. Because that's really what's important to me.

Merry Christmas to everyone and may 2007 be a pretty good year for all!

Sock it to me...

I recieved a phone call from a good friend tonight. It was under the pretense of getting together for a girl's night that we do with another sorority sister of ours about 4 times a year. I was happy to hear from her and we were discussing possible dates for January when she says, " Oh,I'll drive to your town this time because you'll be coming here in May" And, I'm like, "Is there some get together in May that I'm forgetting about?". And then she drops the bomb... "My baby shower will be in May". THIS is how she breaks the news to me. So, then I'm forced to ask, "Oh, are you pregnant?" and then we go through the whole congratulation scenario. And then, I cut the call short because I am so blindsided that I cannot see straight.

And, now I'm dissappointed and hurt. Yes, I knew she was trying to concieve and yes, I asked her to break the news to me via phone (so I wouldn't have to see it at work via email, which has happened to me in the past), but I expected her to at least be straightforward with me.. It was unexpected that she would break the news to me in such a round about manner and basically corner me to ask her if she were pregnant. But, unfortunately, that's what happened. And now, instead of me being happy for her along with a twinge of the green eyed monster, I'm all sorts of crushed. It doesn't help that Christmas is two weeks away and this is the sixth one since we started trying.

So, please learn from this lesson. If you must share news with someone that is difficult to do, please prefice it by saying something along the lines of "This is going to be really hard to tell you but...". That way, it softens the blow and sort of prepares the person mentally for some difficult news. In my opinion, this is so much better than coming out of left field and blindsiding them unexpectedly!!

'Tis the season...

... to change jobs during the busiest time of year!! I took the plunge and accepted a lab tech position in industry - of the seven years I've been working in biology, this is my first non-civil servant job. Before this I have worked for three state agencies and one federal agency. Pretty crazy considering I'm a libertarian, huh? Anyway, I decided to stomp on the what-if monster and just focus on my career!! So far (I've only been at my new job two days) I am loving doing benchwork again and feeling like an important member of a team again. Of course, I'm still in the honeymoon phase, so I'll report more on that once the newness buzz wears off...

I'm happy to see that three of my fellow adoption bloggers have recently been matched and two have their new babies home with them. This gives me hope that Kyle and I could finally become parents sometime next year (inserting the proverbial *knock on wood*). I'll admit it's been hard to have yet another holiday season approaching with no little one in sight. But, it's been a busy season and that is keeping me preoccupied. Santa, guess what I want this year??