A offer I can't refuse

I've been asked to be godmother to this cutie:



Here I am cautiously checking out my goddaughter-to-be at the tender age of six days!



I don't think I had realized JUST how tiny newborns are. Until now, the youngest baby I think I've been around was about three months old. What a difference.

Interesting

I'm pretty sure I took this a few years ago with a very different result. But nowadays, I am...

The Priss Deliberate Brutal Love Dreamer (DBLD) Mature. Responsible. Aristocratic. Excuse me. The Priss. Prisses are the smartest of all female types. You're highly perceptive, and confident in your judgements. You'd take brutal honesty over superficiality any time--your friends always know where they stand with you. You're completely unfake. Don't tell me that's not a word. You're also excellent at redirecting internal negative energy. These facts indicate people are often intimidated by you. They also fall for you, hard. You have a distant, composed allure that many find irresistible. If only more of them lived up to your standards. You were probably the last among your friends to have sex. And the first to pretend that you're pregnant. LOL. Though you're inclined to use sex as weapon, at least it's not as one of mass destruction. You're choosier than most about your partners. A supportive relationship is what you're really after. Whether you know it or not, you need something steady & long-term. And soothing. The Online Dating Persona Test

G'day

Well, The Dude and I are playing hosts for the second time two weeks (and also the second time since I moved in last November). First it was one of my college friends who stayed a night over Memorial Day weekend (and helped us actualize the first-ever usage of the backyard since The Dude bought the place five years ago!). Now it is one of my Australian pseudo-relatives who is touring the U.S. and staying with us all this week.

Ever since I can remember, my family housed wandering Aussies. Heck, we lived in NYC, a city that all the relatives and friends wanted to visit when they finally made the big trip to the U.S., so it was inevitable. My father was never big on having company or otherwise having his "routine" disturbed, but, as my mom marveled at many times over the years, he was always very good about letting the Aussies stay -- sometimes for months and months. Maybe it was because he recognized my mom's huge sacrifice in leaving all her friends and family and moving across the globe to build a life with him in New York.

I admit I was apprehensive about The Dude's willingness to host long-term houseguests, but he has been great about it. (I think to him, a week is long-term...I don't know if he could comprehend having an overseas visitor stay for six months.) He was prepared to make himself scarce if he felt the need, but last night the man who claimed that he was going to "hide" all week wound up staying up chatting with our guest after I threw in the towel and went upstairs to get ready for bed.

The other apprehension I had about this week was -- this would be the first Aussie visitor since my mom died. The last time I saw this person was when my mom and I were in Australia together two years ago. We came back from Australia and she went to the hospital two weeks later, never to return home. Would it be too hard on me? Bring back too many memories?

As it turns out, just the opposite. He just got here yesterday afternoon, but already his visit has made me feel so much closer to my mom and her family and almost-family. I swear there was a moment last night when I forgot she was gone; we talked about her not in a sad, reverent way but in a familiar and appreciative manner that we might have used if he had just come down here after a stay with her up in NY. And while usually the moment when I "remember" (often when I first wake up from a dream about her) that she is dead is a very upsetting one for me, this time it was just comfortable and nostalgic.