Changed my mind. BOOO Spring!

Pollen, pollen, pollen! Yuk. Maybe THAT’s why I forget Spring every year. Maybe I block out the painful memory of the absolute and total MISERY that is allergies! Of course… if I’d just avoid sitting under budding trees, rolling around in the new grass, cutting the flowers and bringing them into my home, etc. that might help.

I swear it seems worse every year. I didn’t always have allergies. Or maybe I did and I just never noticed, because I was inside those buildings with windows that don’t open. So perhaps I've had allergies all along, but just was never outside enough to notice. Wow! Could be. So I love Spring, but there is no Spring without pollen, which is like kryptonite to me. And I love the BDO because of its windows that open, but if the windows didn’t open I wouldn’t suffer from allergies. Oh, the dichotomies of my life!

Spring Thing

You’d think by now it would have become passé. Here I am, almost 39 years on this planet, and every Spring it’s like I’ve never been here before.

This morning I did some laundry and went to hang it out on the line. The grass was still wet with dew, so I took my shoes off and walked across the lawn barefoot. Have you ever done this? You should. I know a lot of moms frown on it (fear of bugs, bees, and/or pet poo between the toes – which are all valid concerns) but it’s SOOO worth the risk. There is nothing like soft, new spring grass, cool and damp under your feet as the sun is just starting to warm up everything else. Probably not for everyone though… my tree-hugger-ness is showing. I swear I started to hear music from the Hair soundtrack and trippy psychedelic colors swirled before my eyes (I am on antihistamines though, so … perhaps…).

There’s other stuff too: I forget how colorful tulips and daffodils are; I forget how absolutely perfect the temperature is for sleeping and working in the BDO Annex Office 2 (back deck); I forget that the temperature changes a LOT from day-to-day or during any given day and begin dressing from the wardrobe-of-wishful-thinking (thus ending up entirely ill-prepared to watch Matthew's baseball game.)

It really is perplexing that I forget until it’s upon me. “Oh yeah, Spring is here. Look at that.” It’s nice though. A happy surprise each year. Yay Spring!

I know, I know...

I really need to start blogging again. But not right now. Right now I have to go cook dinner.


P.S. Happy day-after-Jenn's-BIRTHDAY!!!

A while back I posted about the joy of looking things up and finding answers to (sometimes silly) grammar and style questions. A colleague recently showed me that the AP site has an "ask the editor" section. It's free to view and search all the posted Qs and As. You need a subscription to ask a question. Just in case you too are turned on by stuff like this (or if you just need to know whether to use 80's, '80s or 80s), I thought I would share.

Happy Anniversary to Me

April 1, 2002 was the day UtterClarity blossomed into existence. I was at the dentist's office this morning and the hygienist commented, "You must have a lot of self-discipline to work for yourself from home." I hear that a lot. I guess it's true. When I first went freelance I remember thinking, "This is so freakin' awesome! Why doesn't everyone do this?!" I seriously thought that if everyone knew how wonderful it was to be independent they would all be doing it. I even became a little evangelical about it, encouraging people to escape their big-company shackles and forge out on their own. But I’ve come to realize it really isn’t for everyone. And in fact we NEED people to stay in corporations. Someone HAS to keep them running, because most of those companies ultimate deliver important things that our society has come to rely on like high-impact polymers, micro-encapsulated beads, and robust telecomm solutions (for other big companies). I’m not cut out for that world, but I realize now that some people really are. They love it. They thrive on it. And if the rest of us are lucky, they will never, never leave it.