Well, internet. Hello! The last time I picked up this metaphorical pen, I was pregnant, on the cusp of becoming a parent, peering over the edge to get a glimpse of what life would be like after this cataclysmic change.
Now I am decidedly on the other side: that then-fetus is now three years old, and a veritable tornado of a human, and he has a little brother who is already six months old.
I’ve thought of this poor neglected blog fairly often in the intervening months (years!), and occasionally drafted about 1/3 of a post in the Notepad on my computer but then never finished it… and reflected that the sensible thing to do would be to shut it down, accept that I am not prioritizing writing at this stage in life, and move on, instead of receiving occasional emails from the hosting thing that needle at me (oh yes, that blog! one more thing I am not getting around to!) whenever they pop up.
I couldn’t quite let go, though. I doubt anything much will come of it, but I don’t quite want to give up on it yet. The thing is, I really do like writing. Once upon a time, when I did it regularly at school (and after school, just for me), I felt quite confident in my writing skills. And while I can accept that the baby and toddlerhood years of parenting are probably not my time to recover any writing skills I might once have had, maybe I can try to take the pressure off myself (no outlining, no editing, just some stream of consciousness off the cuff, and see what happens!) and come here to post little tidbits whenever the mood strikes and the striking of the mood happens to align with a free moment. Maybe (likely!) it will be total crap, but maybe it will be better than nothing in terms of keeping my language skills alive. (A thing you may not consider when you move to a country where your native language is not spoken: one day, you may find yourself using bizarre, inexistent turns of phrase or searching your mind for missing words in your own language. Sigh.)
So here we are. Basically, I just wrote four paragraphs to say, whatever, logic and common sense: I’m keeping this blog up anyway, and maybe I’ll occasionally write in it but I might not and I’ll try not to feel bad about that because literally no one cares.
Okay. Well. Can’t quite be called an auspicious start, but here we are. Internet, I hope you’re doing well out there.
Over here in northern Italy, the first frost arrived this morning and I enjoyed gazing out peacefully at it while sipping my coffee, for about seven minutes. Then the fact that baby brother had failed to fall back asleep become unavoidable, so I fetched him out of our bed (I had tucked him in there in a last ditch attempt to buy myself a half hour of peace to start the day with) and realized he was soaked through. We thus started the day with a bath and I really wish I felt comfortable posting the photo I took of his chubby little self in my arms before plopping him in the sink. Six months old is just such a gloriously chunky, blobby cuddly stage. More robust than newborns (which are cuddly in a different way), so you’re less afraid of breaking them, but not mobile yet so just chunky, cuddly chunks. (Those are my language skills at work, see? Where I just reused the same word like three times instead of coming up with other ones? This is working great already! Chunky babies short circuit my brain, though.)
Anyway. Now the sun is shining on this glorious maternity leave day, and I have about twelve things I’d like to accomplish before he wakes up from his impromptu nap. Which, if any, will I accomplish? Will it be the logical one (launder the pee sheets) or something totally random that makes no sense? Stay tuned and find out… or alternatively, I may just disappear for another three years. Only time will tell!
NB: One thing that often blocked the road of potentially posting was the thought of digging an appropriate photo from my phone, because for some reason, not having a photo at the top of the post really annoys me. However, that is silly, because there are plenty of stock photos (it seems) and there is no reason the header image has to be specifically from my own, unexceptional, photography skills. And thus, the field you see at the top is not my field, although it actually is strikingly similar! There is also a row of trees at the opposite edge of mine! Over which the sun does indeed rise! More from the other side though. Still. Close enough, and at least this way I can actually post this without being annoyed every time I look at this. Compromise! Good job, self.
Forever Straniera 