Nice to Meet You

It occurred to me I should introduce myself. My name is Susan. I have been married for almost 3 years. I had a little girl in June of this year. Those are the facts and nothing more. The facts tell you pretty much nothing about me. The truths in my life are far more interesting.

My name is Susan and I have a love/hate relationship with the name. As a child I always hated it. It is old-timey and has the word "ooze" in it. Later in life I began to appreciate its uniqueness. I realize it is a well-known name, but not an often used one among mothers in the mid 80's. At this point I mostly love the name. The truth is, it suits me far better than Kirsten or Megan would have.

I have been married for almost 3 years to my soul-mate. He is a beautiful, complicated, strong man. He is flawed, just like me. Our marriage is flawed just as any human institution is. However, this man's heart was designed with mine in mind. I count myself blessed to have found him and I struggle daily with not taking that blessing for granted. He is my hero and my one true love. Our souls are tied together in a way that cannot be undone (and believe me, that knot has been tested). The truth is, this man loves me more than I ever knew I could be humanly loved, and I love him more than I ever knew I could.

Exhibit A: Young Love

In addition to a great husband, I have a perfect little daughter. She is everything. She is a sleepy, gummy smile in the morning. She is a grumpy furrowed brow in the afternoon. She is uncontrollable giggles in the evening. And she is a sleeping angel at night. She is the spitting image of her father with my ears (you’ll grow into them some day). She speaks only in babbles and coos, but if I could understand her language, I'm certain it would be poetry and love songs. Love is something that I can never quite define as it continues to grow and evolve and bloom into something new and better than before. I love this little girl with all of my heart. She is the physical embodiment of mine and my husband’s love for each other. The truth is, in her 5 ½ months she has taught me more about life than I ever imagined I would teach her in her lifetime under my care.

Exhibit B: Grumpy Furrowed Brow

This is my life right now. It seems pretty simple spelled out like this. I could probably get some serious critiques from the feminists out there for defining myself by my marriage and my child. I'm ok with it. There is more to me and I have all the time in the world to go into detail. This post, however, is dedicated to what my life is dedicated to. The truth is, I am happier living for my family than I ever was living for myself.

Formalities are behind us. Now I feel like old friends, anonymous late-night blog surfer. Welcome to my life.