In her words (cont.)...

"Daddy, are those your hearing aids?"
"Yes..."
"So that you can hear better?"

In her words...

I have decided to add my daughter's entries to this blog. Given that she's only 2 and a half, entirely too smart for my own good, and absolutely funny in her very own way, I find myself needing a record of the things she says that make me wonder what kind of CPU works in her head. So, from now on, you may find yourself staring at one-liners. They'll be under the label "Katarina", and that will be it. To start, here's the background on the first posting of this kind.

Katarina woke up one morning, was brought into bed by Jim, and in a matter of seconds told me, with a very tired, sleepy voice:

"Mommy..."
"Yes, baby?" (that would be me, in my own sleepy voice)
"I think I'm starting to wake up..."

Enough said.

Here's to friendship...

...and to time standing still when it comes to it.

What a surprise I had yesterday! I got a call from some guy with an accent, asking if I was Lara Montero (lo and behold! I had forgotten that name...) Finally my brain started clicking, and I figured I should switch to Spanish, since it was clear this was someone from my Peruvian past. I got thrown off by a slight Chilean accent (huh?), and finally the mystery caller identified himself as Fernando Cossio.

Fernando and I met when I was in the academy preparing for the test at the Medical School at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima. We were part of a group that spent a lot of time studying, stressing out, and dreaming about the day when we'd finally get into a program that only took 50 people once a year. When we finally made it in, we all became glued. There really is no other way to describe it. We had suffered together, we had dreamed together, and now we were starting together down the road of sweat, blood and tears. Ok, so maybe that's a bit dramatic, but I have to say not too far off.

I left Lima a year and a half later, and while I did keep in touch with a few people, with others who were very close to my heart I lost contact. Fernando was one of them. And now he's managed to track me down while on a plastic surgery rotation in Chicago.

And here comes the point of this blog - yeah... finally. Here's to friendship. The kind that can be put on hold when life takes us on opposite directions. The one that is remembered not as a pretty thing of the past, but as a constant in your present, all with a single phone call. The one that you realize you can continue to count on, even if you have become lousy at keeping up with those close to you.

Here's to friendship, and to my friends. You are the fabric of my life.

Better with age?

Do we get better with age? Or do we just start to figure out what it is about ourselves we really like?

Jim and I were at a work function the other night, and one of his colleagues asked me my age (another woman, who was older, so it's ok). To her, I'm still so young at 37, and she's right if you think about it. We got into a conversation about age, and I realized that, in my late 30s, I'm finally starting to figure out who I really am.

So, am I getting better with age? Does anybody? Or is it just the self-assurance of knowing who we are and what we like about ourselves that makes us better?

I am getting better at holding my temper (not perfect, in case you find yourself rolling your eyes), and at being frank with myself about those things I don't like about me. And I'm getting better about being frank with myself about those things I do like about me. The truth seems to come through clearer vision as I get older, even though my physical vision is starting to feel the effects of age. It's not so much hindsight, as inner sight that gets us to this place.

I am enjoying this stage - as I have each other stage thus far. I can't say I'm enjoying the wrinkles that come with it, but I can say that looking at these wrinkles I can see the parts of my life I need to work on. You see, I want happy wrinkles when I get older, not so much the angry ones. I have a line in between my eyebrows that comes from deep concentration and from frowning in displeasure and anger too much. I can live with a line there, just not a groove, so I need to work on the smiling wrinkles and on minimizing the angry one. And apparently, I have to work on sleeping on my back to minimize my "sleep wrinkle", which comes from too much pillow and a sound sleep.

So maybe we do get better with age, but it's mostly out of self-awareness and self-assurance. There's nothing like a person who's comfortable on her skin. So, my friend, if you haven't gotten there yet, either wait a few more years, or start paying attention.

My Off-Broadway Husband...

...and I don't mean Off-Broadway as in not-on-Broadway, nor as an indication of my husband's preference for Off-Broadway shows. Simply said, my darling would just as well turn Broadway off.

Case in point: our last trip to the theater for a very good rendition of "The Phantom of the Opera", which by the way, still lives on, and does so with glory! If you know me, you know I just LOVE Phantom. I know every line to every song. I own the CDs, I used to listen to it three to four times a day, until I got so depressed I had to stop... I recently even read the book by Gaston Leroux. As I said, I LOVE Phantom. Jim likes it too, very much. To his credit, he likes the CDs, loves the music, and bought the movie (by the way, since we mention this... not crazy about Gerard Butler as the Phantom...)

So, what's the problem, you ask? So far so good... until we get to the points during the show when my husband fell asleep. Yes. A-S-L-E-E-P. Granted, he does relax with classical music... but asleep during Phantom??? Impossible!! No, my friend. Entirely possible, highly probable, and unfortunately true.

I should have known though... I mean, he did fall asleep during "Wicked"... I know... mental head slap. In his defense, it was a particular point in the musical when the music was particularly mellow. He didn't quite get it either, but unlike most of us growing up in the Western world, he missed the whole "Wizard of Oz" thing having been in Iran during his younger years, so can't blame the guy there.

In his defense too, I should say he didn't fall asleep during Chicago (or at least I don't think he did), which was fabulous by the way. In his defense as well, he stayed up for the entire "Aida" show (the Elton John version, not Verdi's...) Of course we were so close to the stage, the production might have come to a screeching halt had he been found sleeping.

I have hopes that he will be able to withstand "A Chorus Line" with me, since there is a considerable amount of dancing and that seems to be key. This will be my last attempt at sharing my love of Broadway shows with my sweetie. Love him as I may, I think I'd rather go with a girlfriend to fully enjoy the range of emotions, music and plot that are so unique to Broadway shows.

So perhaps I won't be able to share this with him, at least not that much, but then he's not able to share with me his love for action-packed, thin-on-plot movies either...