A Short Note on Rough Drafts

During my recent residency, one of the fabulous faculty members compared a rough draft to a baby learning to walk. It takes time and hard work. There are a lot of mistakes and mis-starts, but each gets that baby a little closer to success. First he or she stands, then steps, then walks. But the baby needs patience and love from a mama and a papa during the learning process.

In the same way, a new story needs love, support, and time. The first tries will almost certainly miss, but tenacity can create wonderful things. You wouldn't push down a baby who'd taken a misstep. Neither should you insult that story, that is just starting its life.

:)

A Clean House, A Clean Slate

This weekend, Mike and I did a number on our house. Top to bottom, we cleaned. We dusted, swept, scrubbed, sorted, and organized. We have 5 bags to drop off at Goodwill this week. I have a feeling of zen. A clean, orderly living space has always given me this very peaceful feeling. I think it has something to do with everything being in its place. I think it also has to do with spending time with the things I love--taking time to move each treasure to dust under it. Taking time to release the things that I don't treasure and that are just taking up space in my life.

Last week, I felt sluggish. I had trouble getting out of the bed each morning. I dreamed of sleeping the day away.

I now feel ready to start on my critical thesis. This morning, I woke at 6 and went directly to my clean and organized office. I dove headfirst into research. It felt wonderful!

The Wedding and Beyond

Hello world! This week, I officially changed my last name to Guendelsberger. That's right--my last name now has 14 letters. That's how many letters I used to have total, including first, middle, and last!

Here are a few wedding photos:





It was a truly wonderful day. People talk sometimes about a wedding day being one of the best days in their life, and I know now what they mean. It was a day so filled with love and joy that I thought I might burst. I plan to start journaling about it in detail (now that things have settled down a bit) so I can remember the details while the day is still somewhat fresh in my mind.

After the wedding and a honeymoon to the Dominican Republic (hurray!), we fell back into work and life at home, then Christmas came, then my January residency for grad school. I'm just back from my cold, cold St. Paul trip (came home Monday) and am trying to settle in once again.

Married life is beautiful. Perhaps not too different from pre-married life, but it is a joy to share a home and a world with my best fella.

I look forward to continuing our work on the house, and to starting my work on my graduate critical thesis, which is this semester's big project.