Two posts in as many blogs

Moving this over from Wordpress, which apparently does not let you post a lot of photos. Which is something I need to do for this next thing I'm doing. Pardon all the hiccups while I learn about the internets.

Love,
Heidi

August 25, 2012

Blogging about blogging, on my blog.

I really have no reason to blog, other than the standard “everyone else is doing it.” And yes, if everyone else jumped off a bridge, I probably would, too. Because hey, there must be something wrong with the bridge, if all those people are jumping.

I don’t know if this is something I’ll get bored with after today, or keep up with on semi-regular basis, or… let’s just see what happens. I don’t like to put labels on things, okay?

About the title…

Most of you know that I work as an Activity Assistant at a nursing home. We offer manicures on Thursdays, and in the grand tradition of women making mindless small talk during communal beauty rituals, the resident whose nails I’m working on will generally ask me the same two questions about myself: “Are you married?” To which I respond “yes,” and of course the next logical question is, “Do you have children?” To which I must respond, “No.”

An awkward silence almost always ensues, during which I can see the wheels turning in their heads: Oh, dear. Is she infertile? You wouldn’t think so, with those hips, but you never know…And I find myself quickly adding, “Just a cat,” to sort of, you know, lighten the mood, and prove that I’m not totally heartless. This usually makes them smile.

One resident in particular, who has almost no short-term memory left, will sometimes ask me the married/children questions three or four times in the ten minutes it takes me to do her nails. Sometimes, I’m tempted to switch my answers up, just to see what would happen.No, I’m not married. Yes, I have fifteen children. Would you like to buy one?

Sometimes, depending on the resident, and if I’m feeling particularly saucy, I’ll respond with, “My husband is enough of a kid for me right now,” but I have to be careful with that one, because if they don’t “get” it, it can take some explaining, and there are few things in life more frustrating than trying to explain cheeky comments to the elderly, especially if they’re hard of hearing.

There was a time when many of the residents asked if I was a college student before diving into the married/children questions, which was quite flattering as I was in my early- to mid-thirties, but that doesn’t happen too often anymore. But that’s neither here nor there.