Susan Senator
All happy families are not alike...
All happy families are not alike...
Once Again, Con Brio
Just feast your eyes on this. A couture ballgown, made of chocolate! Excusez-moi, chocolat. From a fair in Paris. A Chocolate Fair in Paris. Does it get any better than that? Here I sit, having just gotten off the phone with Max, who told me that he won’t be home this evening, because he and the buds are going to a movie, thus shooting my paltry plans with Ned to hell. We were going to have dinner out someplace. I was going to dress up a little (new boots, new jeans, sexy sweater) and he was not, and we were going to have a little romantic evening.
Oh well.
So, instead, we will take Benj and Nat out to dinner, someplace they can manage (probably Chili’s) and I can tolerate. I will have a long hot soak in the tub and let Calgon take me away to the Chocolate Fair in Paris!
Why do I blog about the seemingly irrelevant, goopy, trivial sometimes? Isn’t this supposed to be an autism blog, filled with pith and vinegar? Pathos rather than bathos? Why do I have, as one snotty sniping psuedonymed snark said, pictures of myself on this blog “trying to look young and glamorous?”
How dare I! How dare I try to have a life, a raucous, beautiful, fun-filled life, brass ring and all, even though I am not young and have three boys, the oldest of whom has pretty complicated autism? Who am I, 44-year-old housewife, acting like a Hot Hausfrauer? Isn’t my life supposed to be over? Where’s my freakin’ dignity and pearls?
My pearls belonged to my bubbe, and the last time I wore them was hmm, let’s see… oh yeah, to the White House! As for dignity, well, my dignity belongs to me, and I can dispose of it or flaunt it or flaut it however I see fit. My message, my point, my raison d’etre in the blogosphere, is to say that I am a whole person, that I will not be two-dimensional while others live enviable chocolate-ballgown lives around me. I am not going to be invisible just because society wants women over 35 to disappear. Just because one of my children has a disability doesn’t mean that is all he is and it doesn’t mean my life is over.
Tragedy — or joy — is ours for the taking. Whether in Paris or in Chili’s — choose joy!
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Very cool outfit. You look fab.
I had dinner with a 60 year old woman last night who was amazing – smart, curious, warm, beautiful and full of life. 44 is nothing!
P.S. Your house looks gorgeous in your photos! I have a thing about quirky houses (and kids) and yours looks interesting….
Susan
Heh. Yeah, I’m at uni with some kids who take umbrage at having to share their space with oldies- ‘old’ in their definition being anyone over the age of… oooh… 25?
hehehe. bless…
Mmmmmm chocolate…
Ooh la la! The chocolate gown! The finger! Quelle attitude!
Don’t let them get to you. You are absolutely gorgeous. 44 looks great on you, but you would be considered sexy at any age.
So, please, please, please keep posting pictures of yourself. It is truly the highlight of my day! 🙂
SA from B
Likewise, I abhor teenage kids and twenty-somethings with their pictures and superficial conversations on myspace… Young kids can go ahead and have their fun and consider us “old hags”, we don’t need their approval. They’ll realize how wrong they were once they reach 35 or so.
Well, I for one enjoy EVERYONE’S conversations, from some of my wilder friends on MySpace (20-somethings with tons of ‘tude and head-turning bods) to the few Autism blogs I read, since I’m a father of a severely autistic kiddo as well.
Love the finger, by the way. Now that is ‘tude.
And you know, of course, that anyone who says anything negative can be reliably pegged as being a pissant and boor…and otherwise incapable of enjoying life.
You go girl.
Life as the parent of an Autistic kiddo is something NO ONE outside of our community will EVER understand. And you know what…sometimes we do need to preen and perk up for the camera.
SO…the FARK…WHAT?
Anonymous posters with nothing enriching or enlightening to say…have no lives. Otherwise, why would they be reading and responding to yours?
Oh wait…I’m responding too.
Shiite.
Um…wait, I’m still younger and sexy and happy and have a life and only get to read your blog after “life” has happened during the day.
Besides, you love hearing from me because I am always upbeat and positive.
I’ve been dead before…and it was really…um…boring.
I like living and being alive. So do yo.
L’Chaim!
PS: As always, you look tres’ fabu!
Wise Young Friend — You are too much!!
Susan — you should see my mom!! My house — well, it is a mess of a place.
Bethduckie — yeah, 25! Babies!
Anne — Can you tell it’s a fake finger? From Benji’s Halloween costume last year.
SA from B– Thanks, you are sweet.
Leila — Don’t you love having the name Leila? I envy you!!!!
Young is subjective, and you DO look glamourous. Bah to the anon troll. Take that bath, keep your pearls on and have Ned wash your back. The rest is not for me to say.
Oh, Guy Rude, thank you for the great idea. I actually thought of it myself, sans pearls!e
You go girl!
You are who you are and I say show it proud and loud. I reacted rather badly to a friend of mine the other day for suggesting my activism should only revolve around autism. Hey, I am passionate about other issues too!
You look great. You feel great. Enjoy life and don’t listen to anyone who can only see the glass as half empty.
Susan, having the name “Leila” is alright, as long as you have fun with the ways people spell it wrong (Lala is my favorite, on a Starbucks cup…)
Susan, I totally agree with you, you should be able to look gorgeous, happy, and have fun. I admire you and your energy. Your ability to balance your life with all its challenges is an inspiration. Keep it up!!
Bravo and Hooray for being a real person. As the father of an autistic boy, one of the hardest things I’ve had to conquer within myself is the fallacy that I had to become less me in order to become more for my son. At the end of the day, I had to realize that what others thought of me was bunk… especially the others that actually take time to criticize. You live life… they merely exist.
I’m so glad I came across your blog.
I love your posts about you.
I hope you enjoyed Chili’s or wherever. (I like Chili’s, but mostly for the burger-and-broccoli trick I can pull there. I can do that at Threadgill’s, too, but that’s a lot farther than the nearest 3 Chili’s.)