My Jenn-eration

I was thinking about my marriage tonight, and whether or not a defense of the institution of marriage was necessary. Because a defense of marriage implies an attack. And I wondered if my own marriage required such a vigorous defense, who would I finger as the likely attackers.   But first, let me address one thing that bothers me greatly in this discussion. My marriage and the institution of marriage are not two distinct things. It’s not like I’m married, and somewhere in my house is a hidden safe where I keep the institution of marriage, tucked safely away so no one will ever steal it or tread on it. I’m married. I feel like sometimes people like to talk about marriage as an institution because it depersonalizes the entire debate. Oh, it’s not you I don’t want to get married. It’s just the institution I want to protect. All hail the institution. Trust me, marriage is indeed sacred and can often feel like a special all white place with padded walls. Yes. But somehow I don’t...

This month marks a rather strange and oddly special occasion for me: my one year blog-aversary. For exactly one year I’ve been sharing way more than anyone ever wanted to know and the strangest part is, I’m not really sure why. Writing for me feels something like this. Sometimes, it is like pouring blood from a stone or compliments from a toddler. I want it – I want to, desperately. But I just can’t. And every word and sentence feels like a painstaking struggle. Usually the finished product feels like a struggle to read. And then are those times that I absolutely don’t want to write a thing. I want to finally get in that great workout, or run to the store or do 20 other different things and I just can’t. I literally have to write. I don’t even know what happens. Suddenly it’s mid-morning or the middle of the night and I’m not even sure what I’m typing or how much time is elapsing and suddenly, well it’s as if it’s written itself. And that kind of writing is seriously exhausting...

I’m not big on lists, but lately I’ve been thinking a lot on my kids and on how ridiculously fast they’ve been changing –Dylan lost two teeth in just the past month alone – and been thinking about all the different things I love about them right now. Because I know in 5 minutes they will change and that will be great too. But I just have this nagging sense of wanting to remember the little random stuff I loved about this version of now. Before this now is 5 years from now, and I don’t remember. So here it is: my random list of the top 17 things I love about you guys, before in my sleep deprived state and diet-coke induced lack of short term memory, I forget it all: 1.        I love that wherever you go and regardless of the time of day, one of you always has peanut butter on your face. 2.        I love that you aren’t too cool to where the superman sweatshirt I bought you at JC Penney. 3.     ...