10 Things About Me (Grief Aside)

Carly at Still Standing Mag posted her latest article this morning. It's a link up called "10 Things About You (Grief Aside)" where you're supposed to write just what it says in the title, and then share it with the community. I thought this was a lovely idea but didn't do it right away. Tonight when I started writing, I thought about Carly's article and decided to go for it.

Let me take you on my journey of trying to set my grief aside and come up with 10 things.

Grief Aside...10 things about me.

10. I love tomatoes. 

9.

But I don't know who I am anymore. I mean. I still love tomatoes, but I recently threw away two containers of cherry tomatoes that I didn't even touch (the whole Dead Baby: Take Two thing is to blame). I have to admit that I haven't bought more tomatoes, though, because what if I don't eat those ones either? It's not really fair to the tomato.

I don't read in the same way. I love books, but I can't devour them like I used to.

I write because I have to. I enjoy it for the release and discovery, but I haven't tackled any new characters or revisited old ones since Alaska died.

Pizza is good, but food isn't the same. Breathing isn't the same. Nothing at all is the same. (Dramatic! Yipes...but it's true.)

I love my family, but my love is different now. (Here is where words will fail again.) My love is bigger, more fearful, it had to grow because it contains two more people. I don't love anyone more than I did before--that's not possible with unconditional love, but I do think that it can get bigger (which is different than more...at least in the sense that I'm trying to describe).

Even something like my favorite show, The Walking Dead, is not the same. I am still drawn to zombie lore because of the exploration of how humans react to and interact in that world, but I relate to the characters in a new way. (The new way of relating to them sucks.)

****

At this point I realized that I should go back and cheat off of the list that I wrote last December just thirteen days before my grief started. My sister had posted a "10 Things" challenge on Facebook that I decided to use as a fun way to announce our new baby to the friends and family who hadn't heard our news.

1. Of course I started my list with tomatoes. I did that today, too.
2. I still suck at taking naps (and sleeping in general).
3. The sky! I will never tire of the sunsets and sunrises and rainbows and clouds. It's a new experience, though. Rainbows remind me of Auburn. He was supposed to be our rainbow baby. Before the boys knew about Auburn, they both made several art projects with rainbows. It was exciting. Rainbows are still lovely, but they. aren't. the. same.
4. Afraid of public speaking? More than ever. Afraid of crowds? Yes, but I can handle strangers better than acquaintances. I also have several wonderful friends who have truly helped me survive the crowds I couldn't avoid. Afraid of flying? I don't think so. My fear of flying started when I had my first child, and it ended when I lost my daughter.
5. Asher had to deal with a few people who told him that he wasn't a big brother because his sister died, but I think we've worked past that obstacle. My boys are big brothers to Alaska and Auburn in a different way than what we had planned, but they continue to come up with new ways to include their baby siblings in our family.
6. I still have the best husband. We celebrated 10 years of marriage a few weeks ago.
7. Yep. Zombies.
8. Now I have all of these major writing projects that haven't been touched since December, but I have been thinking about them lately. I will go back to them someday with my new eyes and see what happens. This blog is a major writing project that I have added to my list.
9. I hope I still have my book finding powers...I think I do.
10. As for choosing a special power, I would certainly go bigger than the ability to apparate. So much for my old magical thinking.

Now I feel that I have failed to do this task correctly because I couldn't put my grief aside.

Try, try again...

1. Yoga is my favorite stress reliever.
2. Harry Potter nerd for life
3. Speaking of nerds: #dftba
4. I am the mom in a family of 6
5. My mom used to tell me that my freckles were angel kisses and that for every freckle I had a friend. I still disliked my freckles, but now I wouldn't erase them if I had the chance. (Asher wishes that he could get freckles.).     :)
6. Fish are creepy to be around unless they are contained in an aquarium at a zoo (or filleted)
7. I prefer the chill of fall
8. My hands laugh at the most inopportune times (like when I need to use them)
9. I love to look at dead trees
10. When I say that my hands laugh, most people think I'm crazy, but a few will admit that their hands laugh, too. It's a special kind of connection when you find a laughing-hands-friend.

I am Still Standing in memory of my daughter Alaska Eileen and my tiny baby Auburn.

There. It was a wordy road, but I got here.