Goodkin

Joel, my much younger man, turns 33 this week. Even Joel is surprised he is so old—he Facebooked that he “doesn’t believe it” (sure Joel when you said my turning 40 was no big deal). No one else thinks he’s old. I had a friend this week remark how much muscle he had—and another friend text me to tell me how wonderful he was—and another friend was totally impressed that he is so much younger than me (not sure if he was impressed with me or impressed with Joel). But, what happens when Joel, himself, suddenly thinks he is old?

This month was moving month for us. After three years in Venice, CA, our family made a BIG move—from a 2 bedroom/1bath apartment where we were 2 blocks from the beach, surrounded by cement and a steady stream of campers—to a larger “cabin” in Topanga, CA, surrounded by oak trees and a steady trickle of a creek. When I first moved back to Los Angeles in 2007, someone told me they could see me living in either Venice or Topanga—so I guess it is fitting that I try both. What follows is a list of top ten cons and pros of our new digs after our first week:

The movie Eclipse (part three of the Twilight series) came out on June 30th—but I won’t get to see it until it comes out on DVD since I have little kids around. So when is that? January, perhaps? But I hear it’s a good one. So good that my sister took the day off work to see it, facebooked about its quality, and then sent me a link that had to do with the movie. I didn’t immediately check the link since I thought maybe it was a spoiler about the movie.

The other morning I found Lucy in the living room playing with my only bra, trying to figure out if she should wear it like a scarf or a hat. Well, that’s not actually entirely true…it’s not my only bra, it is my only bra that fits…but that’s not really true either. It doesn’t fit. It’s the only bra that I have that sort of fits, but it also is sort of too big and sort of broken (only one clasp hooks and the other is bent at a strange angle that pokes me).

After approximately two years, I had a night out. Of course it took me turning forty, and the wiliness of an old college friend, but still, a night out is a night out. “You’re doing something for yourself?” my mom remarked. Okay, sure, my two older children are only with us part of the time, and yes, we could easily hire a sitter for Lucy, but we just haven’t. We like spending time with our kids. But Joel volunteered to stay home with all three girls and it was a hard thing to turn down.