Sha na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye...

Dan got laid off this week. He had worked at the company for 20 years, and last Tuesday, they said, “see ya!”

So the transition is a big one.

I’ve never been laid off before, but I’ve been dumped, and it feels crappy. “It’s not you, it’s me!” Yeah right. But unlike me, who recovered from being dumped with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and a weekend’s worth of chick flicks, Dan is getting out there, talking to colleagues about new opportunities.

Dan knows about 4 million people, and 98.5% of them think he’s a great guy, because, well, he is. He’s helped and encouraged a lot of folks during his career, and they want to return the favor. He’s going to get another job, and he has a decent severance package in the meantime. When? What will he be doing, for what company? Dunno. But it’s all good.

Driving Miss Roxanne

I was thinking about Roxanne and her carseat the other day. Kids are allowed to face forward in the car after they are a year old and at least 20 pounds. Although Roxanne met that criteria shortly after her birthday, I left the seat rear-facing because I thought she might lose a lot of weight during food camp. When I was assured her weight was heading up, not down, I turned around the seat, and at the same time, moved the shoulder straps up a notch. I hadn’t realized until then that she was so tall.

I can remember when I couldn’t get the shoulder straps low enough for her, even in the infant carrier carseat.

When she got too long for the infant carseat, she graduated to this one, facing backwards.



And here she is today. Another rite of passage behind us. I know some moms feel melancholy about their little ones getting bigger, but I’m just so happy she’s healthy and strong, I don’t look back very often. Except when she's sitting behind me in the car.

Back from nowhere

TOWWAS demanded more blogging, so I must blog.

Dan and I took an at-home vacation from December 24 to January 7, and mostly just hung out with Roxanne and chilled. It was good. On Christmas day, we drove up to Pennsylvania to see my aunt, uncle, cousin, and her kids. Roxanne raked in the gifts again this year, getting lots of super cool toys that I would never have found and clothes that are more stylish than my own (go, Baby Gap!). I hope I’ve thanked everybody for your generosity, but if I missed anyone, thank you! Roxanne has been having a lot of fun with her new toys and looks way cute in her new outfits.

Roxanne has been rockin’ her new piano from Pop Pop. It has a full octave keyboard that lights up, and even plays chords. Amazing. We’ve been working on the basic solfege (my college friends may now cringe): “do-re, do-mi, do-fa, do-so, do-la, do-ti (Leading tone! Feel the tension!) do-do (Resolution!).” Seriously. I do this. But most of the time, she just freestyles.

Obligatory photo:

Mad piano skilz. She has them.


Over the break, I had the opportunity to spend time with a lot of friends, including MW, a girl who I met during State Fair, the show where I also met this really cute guy named Dan. (In fact, M asked me after a rehearsal, “Do you like Dan?” I think I replied that he seemed very nice, but she was on to me.) M was 10 or 11 years old back then, and had already been on Broadway when I met her. Now she’s a college student … where? Harvard. She has got it going on.

In other news, I’m completely addicted to the series The Wire, thanks to my dealer, RS, who just happens to live in Baltimore. I’ll attempt to talk about this in my next blog, but many critics, including Tom Shales of The Washington Post, have already taken all the good material.