Weekend Open Thread

I’m posting this on a Saturday this week; it felt inappropriate to post anything more yesterday after we started discussing the school shooting in CT. I stayed away from the news most of yesterday until we put Jackson to bed and then I spent a half hour or so — as much as I could stand — reading various articles and watching the evening news programs. It’s hard to wrap my head around such a tragedy — all those little lives lost and all the parents and grandparents and siblings and friends who are experiencing unimaginable grief now.

Of course, when I hear stories like this one now — which is far too frequent — it’s with a different perspective that I process the information than before I became a parent. Now, I immediately imagine if it had been MY son who was hurt, and it’s a place no parent wants to go, even just in thought. Back in October, there was a wife and mother here in NYC who came home from taking one of her three kids to swim class to find her two other children stabbed to death in their bathroom, their nanny lying nearby with a bloody knife at her side. I still think about that woman several times a day and pray that she finds strength to be the mother her surviving daughter needs.

Stories like these will ignite passionate debates about gun control and the need for better mental health care — debates and discussions I hope lead to some serious changes in the U.S.

But for now, I want to hold my Jackson tight and enjoy this holiday season we have together. I’m sending prayers to everyone who is suffering — for whatever reason — and know that in an instant it could be me…or you… or any one of us. So let’s enjoy the hell out of the happiness we do have — the joy of the season, the time with loved ones, and good news both big and small.

This weekend I have four parties I’m going to — two birthday parties, a holiday party and a going-away party. The holiday party tonight is an annual shindig our friends throw and they go all out — I mean all out. This year, I got some new shoes (the sparkly black/black fabric ones) to wear and I hope I don’t break my neck (I don’t wear heels often).

What about you? Do you have a big weekend planned? Holiday parties and shopping and drinking, oh my?

P.S. The photo above was taken on the first night of Hanukkah last weekend and it’s one of my new favorites. Isn’t Jackson looking like such a … boy? He’s starting to say a few words and I know within a few months he’ll be stringing some of those words together to say, like, sentences, which blows my mind already. I’ve been dying to know what goes on in his little mind and it’s crazy to think that it won’t be long before he’s able to tell me. Please God, don’t let it be, “You suck” or the equivalent.

Last night was the seventh night of Hanukkah and I made brisket and latkes — trying my best to be the equivalent of a good Jewish mother (says the woman who was raised in a Lutheran church). Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate!