Living Out Loud volume 6: Going home

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Some may not see it that way, but I have the luxury of living a few hundred yards from my childhood home where my parents still live. We moved once and that was only across the street (and we never sold the old house, so it was more like expanding than moving). Norfolk, and in particular the Ocean View neighborhood, has always been my home. My old boss Harry lived in the temperate and beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia for decades and only recently left to live closer to his children (and granddaughters!) in central Virginia. He shocked himself recently by saying it was "only 90" degrees outside and as those words left his lips he realized he was becoming a local.

Our project for this month is to answer the question "where are you from?". Interpret that as you will - where you were born, what area you identify with, etc. Is where you would say you're from the same place your parents might answer? Has your answer changed over the years? Do you have different versions/levels of what you call home (your immediate dwelling versus Home with a capital H)? Are there certain sights, sounds or smells about Home that make it that way?

Thomas Wolfe says you can't go home again, but maybe it's just that the definition of home changes and is less about a zip code and more about the space that makes you feel safe and content.

Details include:

  • Tell us about where you're from using the previous paragraphs as guidelines but interpreting it as you will. Remember the rules on these projects are loose so long as you follow the spirit of sharing something about yourself with us.
  • Once you have completed your entry and posted it, please email me the link at genie [at] inabottle [dot] org.
  • If you do not have a blog to host your story, you can email me the story directly and I will add it here as a guest post giving you credit.
  • The due date for entries is Sunday, July 5th (the first Sunday of the month) at 5pm Eastern. That's a holiday weekend, so don't procrastinate too much.
  • Once I have collected all the entries, I will post a wrap-up to list them all and announce a winner. The winner will receive some sort of prize to be determined but all participants will receive fame and glory and a link on our Living Out Loud blogroll.

I can't wait to read what you all produce!

A few tidbits

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It's late, but I have a few things to share. We went for our follow up ultrasound today since the one on Wednesday didn't work out as the heart person wasn't there. Our little boy is 1 pound 1 ounce and looking totally normal in every way. I also learned that Shaquille O'Neil was only 7lb. 8oz. at birth. We got to look at his liver and heart and took a few more pictures for posterity. I'll post the good ones soon.

I paid $0.99 for Peggle on the iPhone last night and it was by far the best purchase I've made in a while now. I was all Cranky Pants about my dress being a disaster and within 15 minutes I was giggling with glee. Money well spent. Rich, of course, is now lying beside me in bed playing the game and blowing my high score out of the water because that's how he is. I'm trying to not let that bother me.

Speaking of purchases, I learned today that Microsoft is no longer going to sell Money (like Quicken but the MS version). I hate Quicken so I'm going to have to do some soul searching about why I log our money and what parts of it are important to me. I'm thinking Google Docs may help, but we'll see.

With the increased daylight, I've been getting a lot more OV license plate photos lately. I find it ironic (maybe just interesting ... damn you, Alanis Morrissette) that we drove 3.5 hours down to Cary, NC tonight only to pull into the parking lot of the hotel next to an OV license plate I've not seen before. We are everywhere!

And speaking of 3.5 hours in the car, that is not fun when you're pregnant. I could not get comfortable and my legs kept feeling like they were swelling up or falling asleep. Short of the diabetes issues, my swollen calves may be my first actual pregnancy inconvenience. I'm sure there are plenty more to come. It's also amazing how quickly one can go from "everything's great, it's the miracle of life" to "oh my God, I look like a fat cow, don't even look at me" just from one little dent in a calf after resting it on the dashboard. Good times.

The good news, though, is my blood sugars have done better today. I'm trying out an infusion site on my thigh and it's going solidly okay there. I can probably get used to it and I haven't ripped it out accidentally so that's a plus. Amazingly, the ultrasound tech was the one that explained around 23 weeks the placenta starts to grow a lot more and send your blood sugars into a tizzy. Wouldn't it be nice if my diabetes educators had told me that?

I finally picked a topic for the next LOL project but I probably won't get around to writing about that until Sunday night or Monday so stay tuned! I think it's gonna be a good one.