Don't Do It

Dude, if you're home alone a lot, and even if you're just trying to clean up a room for company coming, do not approach the box of letters that contain sweet notes from your husband, as well as some written by your beloved grandmother to you when you were a kid. Stay the hell away from that box... Amidst sobs and frantically trying to wipe tears off of letters before the ink ran, I found this letter written by my Oma's uncle (my great, great uncle). Bill and Else (pronounced 'Elsee') are Oma's parents, and Billie is Oma's nickname. Keep in mind that I was born in late Sept 1983. And other random fact - Uncle Wally was a dwarf. I have a vague memory of him from when I was little and how fun I thought he was because he was "my" size.

Dated Oct 11, 1983,
"Dear Bill, Else, and Billie,
Now that the reality of the expected coming event has had time to penetrate, Katherine Lindsay Shore has arrived to make life a bit nicer for all.
She has arrived into a great ready made family - parents, grandparents, great grandparent whom she will easily recognize. Aunts and uncles all the way up to great great aunts and uncles, and by the time she knows about all of them, she will be an exceptional child, close to a genius.
We are pleased and happy for each new arrival and believe that this one may be the wise one.
Congratulations and love,
Wally"

Man, I balled when I read this...probably because I'm emotionally labile all the time now, but also because I miss the Mississippi family I used to have and all our gatherings. Also, I wonder what these folks would think about me if they were still alive. I'm pretty sure I'm not close to a genius, but hopefully they wouldn't find me to be a big failure.

Hmm. This sort of ties into the whole career/job thing - I did give notice the other day, which went well. But without a job, will I have an identity? My priority is definitely to be able to see my husband and spend time with him, but I don't want to be known only as "Joe's wife." The wise one, though...I'd be okay with that.