Being5.

image via pinterest.

If we’re friends on Facebook, you may or may not be insanely annoyed with my constant requests for quotes, participation in articles, requests to use pictures of your kids doing cute/unique/cool things. I’m pretty annoyed with myself for having to ask you all of the time and incredibly thankful to all of you who humor me on a regular basis.

We’ve already established that I’m 80% asshole and I’m trying my best to be 10% less annoying… at least as far as Facebook is concern. Maybe it would help balance things out.

Unfortunately, dear friends, it’s the nature of my job to have to drive you all crazy with my incessant article sharing/quote requesting/general annoyingness. Literally, I’m required to pimp myself out for work — it makes my articles more successful, which makes the sites more successful, which makes them  more money, which makes them give me more assignments.

Anyway.

10% less annoying.

It’s a start.

That being said, I’d like to try to stop asking for article participation, help, quotes via Facebook in an attempt to make life a little sweeter for us all.

Instead, if you would like to be part of my email list for when I do have article requests, please let me know. You can email me being5blog@gmail.com (or my personal email address, if you have that!) or leave me a comment on this blog post. Or, simply push the “LIKE” button on this Facebook post. Tweet me. Send up smoke signals. Fly you carrier pigeon with a note on monogrammed stationery. Whatever you prefer. I’ll put together a list of people, confidential of course, and will send out occasional emails if I have something I need.

For example, I do have an upcoming article on what real moms wear in their everyday life — how fun is that? It will feature some of YOU wearing your fave “mom clothes.”

A couple more things before I go… There may still be a FB post here or there with last-minute or specific requests, so don’t sue me if that happens. And, if you know someone else who you think would be interested, please pass this along to them — you can email them this exact post below.

(thank you. i couldn’t do this without all of you. yes, all of you. xo.)

(notes on motherhood and mother’s day from last night HERE, in case you missed it.)

It’s hard to put motherhood into words sometimes. Even for me. There are no words for this job — no words to describe how enormous it is, how consuming it is, how it sucks all of the life out of you, while simultaneously filling you with everything that you need.

This weekend was pretty close to perfect and for three perfect reasons.

one. I got to spend time with my own mom, who came to visit. One of my biggest joys in life now is having her as a grandmother to my kids. I know they say that there’s nothing like seeing your children as parents, but what they don’t know is that there’s nothing like seeing  your parents as grandparents. It’s priceless.

two. One of my dearest friends became a mom for the first time to a beautiful baby boy and it chokes me up just thinking about it. She’s a mom now. They’re a family in such a new, undiscovered and exciting way and I can’t wait to witness their journey because they’re going to be great parents. Also, I’m totally getting my newborn fix.

three. I had a special day with my own three sweethearts, including time to snuggle with each of them on their own, dinner and milkshakes in the sunshine at one of our favorite parks, a dress that Janie made me herself and a custom Mother’s Day banner and even the chance to take a little bit of a nap.

(xo to all the moms who spend time here. y’all keep me going sometimes. thank you for that.)

I preface this by saying that I’m probably an idiot and when it comes to politics, I KNOW I’m an idiot.

But.

I’m confused.

First things first. I support gay marriage. Without a doubt in my mind. I’ve always supported gay marriage. Even before it was cool to and before Facebook existed for me to announce that I supported gay marriage. Even when I thought I was a REPUBLICAN, I supported gay marriage. (side note: just because i’m not a republican, does not mean that i’m a democrat.) I realize that some of you disagree with me. And while I don’t completely understand why you think human equality doesn’t take precedence over, well, everything, I do understand that you are probably using the Bible as your guide and I respect that.

Moving on.

Facebook and the entire INTERNET (which is actually one and the same thing) was blowing up this afternoon over the news that President Obama announced that he personally supports gay marriage. Here’s what he said:

“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married…”

I realize that this is a huge moment. And I feel 80% like an asshole for posting this because I am not gay and I have no idea what it’s like to be living as a gay American who is not able to marry the person I love. So really, I do understand that having Obama be the first President who has publicly supported gay marriage is a big deal.

Here’s where my head starts to spin. Buckle your seat belt.

The other 20% of me thinks that it wasn’t enough. That 20% of me is kind of an asshole too.

While it was a very nice gesture on President Obama’s part, I think that him saying that he “personally” affirms that same-sex couples should be able to get married was a cop-out. Watch the video. The emphasis he puts on “for me, personally” is pointed. As if someone was very clear with him that he needed to use those words. Don’t you think that it’s pretty easy for him to support gay marriage personally, but to still stay out of it politically, which is what he continued to say in the interview… that he would still leave matters of same-sex marriage to the individual states?

As our President, I think he could have taken a stronger stance and not just confirmed that he personally supports the right for same-sex couples to marry, but that he would use that personal belief to move mountains politically to support the changes to make it possible. He is the President of the United States after all. According to Hollywood movies about the President and that new show, Scandal, (which I’m devouring, by the way), he is the most powerful man in the WORLD. If he’s on board with same-sex marriage now, why not make some shit happen?

And, here’s where I’m an idiot because I realize that it is not as simple as that. For the President to say he supports it and that by saying that, there could actually BE change. But, humor me for a moment… why can’t it be that simple?

And to further my asshole status, although I believe that he authentically does believe in the right of same-sex couples to marry, I can’t help but notice that we’re in an election year. They said over and over again on the news today and in practically every article I read that this isn’t an issue that will take precedence in the upcoming election — that the economy will be the deciding factor for voters — but I disagree. Because if you’re a political idiot like me (and most people are, sad to say), I don’t even bother trying to make sense of the economy anymore, but something as black and white as supporting gay marriage when it comes to making my vote in November? I know where I stand and I know where the candidates stand… especially now.

I’ve probably said too much and probably offended some people (sorry) and things such as this are generally why I prefer the head-in-the-sand political experience. But, I didn’t feel like I could just hide behind pushing a “like” button on a Facebook status today.

On May 9th, 1998, 14-years ago today, Josh and I went on our first date. I was a junior in HIGH SCHOOL and he was a senior. I’m not sure that it was love at first sight, but I’m pretty sure that, at least on my part, it was love at first date.

I did a little digging through old boxes of photos tonight and uncovered some good ones from our first few months of dating… (don’t mind the horrible picture quality. i don’t know how to use my scanner, so these are via iPhone.)

California Road Trip. A little Golden Gate Bridge photo opp.

California Road Trip. Santa Barbara. FYI, that was my favorite shirt of 1998. It said “Certified Hot Tub Lifeguard.” I was not actually a certified hot tub lifeguard.

Setting the trusses on Shawn & Reid’s shop. The sky was insanely blue that summer.

(love you babe. i know you remember these moments just as well as i do. xo.)

Also, friends, be prepared. All that digging through old pictures has uncovered some gems. And just because you’re almost nine-months pregnant doesn’t mean that you’re exempt, Mrs. G.