It's A Girl.

Things have been quite sucky for me lately, but last night I got a little bit of a shot in the arm that I needed.

A little bit of a back story first.  I have two best friends, Joey & Claudia. The three of us have been together since the 6th grade so we're talking 30 yrs now. JEEZ.

In the past year, Joey lost her grandmother, and then suddenly her mother.  I saw her mom last June at Joey's birthday party in Dallas.  I went back to Boston and almost immediately everyone was telling me that her mom had lost a lot of weight and was generally not doing well. She was gone in November.

Obviously my heart broke for Joey. I was trying to rearrange plans to just go home around my birthday and forget everything fun that was going on in my life at the time to attend the funeral. Joey told me to go on with my plans...that she was going to have the funeral immediately and that I wouldn't even have the opportunity to fly down to attend. 

I still wish I could have gone.  Her mom practically raised me as well. The endless hours spent in Joey's bedroom, swooning over Duran Duran or watching movies or MTV and her mom bursting into the bedroom during the Spring demanding that we turn off the Air Conditioner and TV and "Get in the hallway!" because a Tornado was spotted north of town. Ah, west Texas. 

Joey has no brothers or sisters.  She has one aunt, one uncle and one cousin, Gloria, Howard & Jaime. 

Jaime is now expecting her first child, and last night we had a party for her & her husband and for Jaime's father, Howard (who was celebrating his birthday).  No one knew the sex of the baby last night except for the doctor and the baker who made the birthday cake for Howard. Once he cut the cake, the baby was revealed for everyone as the cake was pink inside and not blue.

It was nice to be celebrating life for a change and to be happy & excited about the future.  It's so easy to get lost or caught up in what might be a moment (or in my case, a few months) of disappointment.  I am owning my decision to leave Boston & a great job...and I accept that it's not going to be easy to find a job in California while living in Texas (financially I have to), but I'm still working on it.  My friends want me to return to Dallas....and though I swore it off years ago, the reality is setting in.  It's not that it's even going to be easy finding a job there...and let's face it, I'm not getting any younger.  Still, I'm determined....and last night was nice. To be around friends, family and celebrating new life...in whatever form it may be.

Joey, me, Claudia

with mom

With mom-to-be, Jaime.