Friday 5: Obligatory

1. In 2021, who made you laugh? My husband and 18-month-old son. At this age, my son is mostly unintentionally hilarious, as are most toddlers. And the laughs are truly contagious.
2. What was a pleasant surprise? My workplace started off the year really, really rough, with the loss of our biggest client and mass layoffs as a result. I survived that, for one, and based on some of the people who were let go, I wasn’t sure that I would. So there was that, but also, near the end of the year, things turned around a bit. We were acquired by a new company who seem to be pretty great to work for, and our Christmas gifts were a cookie-decorating kit and a $150 Amazon gift card. So ending the year very differently than it started was nice.
3. How have you grown? I mean, I hope that I am both a better parent and a better writer.
4. What do you forgive yourself for? For not being perfect. Neither me nor my husband has any huge examples of parenting mishaps, but for me, what I’ve found the hardest is striking a balance between being present mentally and emotionally while also fulfilling my own needs–think things like screwing around online while he’s playing because I just got off work and need to decompress a little while feeling like he should have my absolute, undivided attention during all his waking hours, even if that’s not necessarily true. Independent play is good and important and he’s quite content to do that, frankly, but it’s easy to feel like I should be interacting with him more.
5. If you were to get a tattoo to represent the year, what would it be and where would you put it? I’d get “wear a mask and get vaccinated” on my forehead. Or “my son’s health is more important than your shitty opinions.” Maybe both, but then you need it small enough to fit, but then you might compromise readability, you know?

From Friday 5.