Just a collection of things running through my brain as June begins. Why not? This is my blog. I do what I want.
Whatever Will Be Update
Let’s start with an update that absolutely no one asked for! Whatever Will Be is still in the hands of some readers, and I anxiously await their comments. Maybe not so anxiously. From the feedback I’ve already received, I won’t need a third draft (as I’ve said before), but I do have a few changes to make. From there, it will go to proofread, then on to publishing. It still seems on track for a publication date sometime in 2022.
By far the most valuable feedback I received was from my daughter. She didn’t actually have much to say, which is totally on brand for her, until we had this exchange:
Me: Would you recommend it to your friends?
Daughter: Sure.
Me: Would you tell your friends to read it, even if I wasn’t your Mom?
Daughter (without hesitation): Of course.
So, I’m looking at a readership of at least eight teenaged girls, which puts me somewhere in between the guy who writes Terms & Conditions, and Stephen King. I call that a win.
June is Birthday Month
Not for me, but my kids both have birthdays in June. They are three years and twelve days apart. My son will be twenty this year, so I will no longer be able to say I regularly scream at my teenagers. Instead, I will have to say I scream at my teenager and my fully grown adult son, which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it but is certainly accurate.
Aside: I’m fully aware that I have not named either my son nor my daughter in these posts, and honestly struggle with whether I should. When they were much younger, I had another blog that had about four readers (still more than the Terms & Conditions guy), and I named them there, but that was a blog about them. This blog is not about them, unless they do stupid shit, in which case you can bank on hearing about it. For right now, I’ve landed on not naming them to protect their privacy. If you know me, you know their names anyway, and you also know I’m using my maiden name. I should have used this opportunity to totally go Consuela Bananahammock on all of you, but it didn’t occur to me until just now. End of aside.
In our house, we do that thing where the birthday person gets to pick what to have for dinner. My husband is only vaguely aware he is having a birthday until I remind him, and then I make one of his two or three favorites and call it good. My birthday lands on or around Thanksgiving weekend, so at the very least I am assured turkey, which is fine by me as it’s one of my favorites. Thanksgiving should occur monthly as far as I’m concerned, as long as mashed potatoes and a bucket of gravy are involved. I also manage to squeeze in a pizza night, so in effect, I get two dinners.
This year, my son is working and won’t be home for dinner, and has requested to forgo a birthday dessert. He obviously doesn’t understand the only reason to have a birthday is so the rest of us can have dessert. He still might get one, and his sister and I can eat it all.
My daughter totally understands the concept of birthdays and has requested “Steak…and cake” every year since she turned four. Two years ago, on her fifteenth birthday, my stepmother treated us to Hamilton in San Francisco, and you bet I brought cake and we sought out a steak dinner. We ended up at The Cheesecake Factory (for just the steak, not the cake) and, as it turns out, they make a pretty good steak dinner. According to my daughter, anyway.
It’s Pride Month, Y’All
To all my LGBTQIA+ friends and readers: Enjoy it! I’m PROUD of you!
To all my non-LGBTQIA+ readers who are now angry with me for even mentioning it: kindly show yourself the door. I have no tolerance for intolerance.
DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY! Unless that includes denying the legitimate existence of others. Then go fuck yourself.
Vickie Jarman 