Such a busy weekend ahead of me. I just went to the library and picked up the book that The Ladies in Waiting book club is reading next month. Very excited to start discussions about that. It will certainly be useful to keep my mind occupied and maybe for a while I can show that I do have other things that interest me besides obsessing over my infertility. For example: I now crochet. I also make jewelry, but my apartment is so small that pulling out all my jewelry crafting tools gets cumbersome and it clutters up our small living space easily. Crochet is far more portable.
My nephew is very excited that I have picked up this hobby because he has been wanting my sister to show him how to crochet for a few months. I'm not sure where he picked up on the idea, but I'm happy to share my hobby with him. I love that my sister is okay with her son being interested in "stereotypically girl things". He loves legos and star wars, and he's a boy scout - but when he was a baby he would coo like crazy in the Victoria's Secret store. We figured out his favorite color was pink, and we all had a good laugh about it. I think he's going to grow up to be a really well rounded person because no one is forcing him to live up to any particular image of what it is to be a "man". That makes me very proud :-)
And while I'm on the subject of well-roundedness, I might as well mention some other interests of mine that may come up. I *love* musical theater and if you ever saw me driving, I would be rocking out in my car to West Side Story, Avenue Q, Wicked, almost anything I can get my hands on. I just went to see one of my favorite musicals, RENT, at the university where I work. Our theater arts program is really good and the performance pretty well blew me away.
Look at that, a whole post about anything but my stupid, greedy ovaries. I feel like I'm growing! ;-)
So what kinds of hobbies and activities do you guys do to keep your brains busy?
My newest thing is that I've been taking ballet class! I have to say I have no idea what I would do without it. It's SO good to have a "project" that's not related to infertility. I've also read more in the past year than in my whole life I think! And only a handful of them were books about fertility. :) It's good to get our minds off of it right? It's also why I like my single gal friends and those that aren't trying yet. To talk about other interesting things besides babies!!!
ReplyDeleteI can see we would get along really well!! I also love musical theater, with west side story being my favorite. We used to put on huge productions in high school and I loved it. I don't crochet, but I knit, and I also love to read. Finally, I am all about kids doing things outside of their stereotyped gender roles. That's awesome! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI have a BUNCH of things to say in response to this post:
ReplyDelete1) Just the other day I actually put an ad out on Craigs List looking for someone to teach me how to crochet. No responses yet, but I'm just giddy about it. I've been dying to learn for years. We have some YUMMY yarn stores nearby.
2) My nephew was 4 when my husband and I got married. His favorite color was pink. His favorite flavor was pink (<-- how cute?!). He just loved anything pink. So during our reception I made sure the DJ played 'Pink' by Aerosmith and my nephew and I danced like crazy on the dance floor. Best memory ever.
3) My husband is one of those manly-men. His favorite food is pizza. He can lift heavy things. He grunts a lot. However, we periodically book secret trips to NY just so we can see Broadway shows. Who *is* this man I married?
That's great your nephew is interested in crocheting. My brother knows how to knit and supposedly so does my husband. But everyone in Finland is taught in school how to knit (and crochet?) and a lot of people. mostly women keep it up later in life. I've got to learn to do more than just scarves and wash clothes. Hah!
ReplyDeleteI too love making jewelry, paper crafts, bead crafts and so on. I understand about having a small space, but needing much more to get all your supplies out.
I also love reading to help pass the time and playing on the computer.
Here from ICLW.
I'm going to my first knitting class tomorrow! I've always wanted to learn how to knit. I already crochet, mostly free-form because I can't follow patterns and counting stitches makes me crazy. I guess in my spare time I take on projects I don't have time to do, and then race to the finish line. Good hobby, right? :) PS- Your nephew sounds so sweet!
ReplyDelete(late ICLWer limping through)
ReplyDeleteYay, I've got knitting as my NY resolution, although have just about learned adding in and dropping (intentionally) stitched, I learnt to crochet way back when but didn't do a heap of it - think it looks awesome though.
Other 'hobbies' - a bit scarce atm: going to gym takes up some of my time. I like photography, and one day will get my painting mojo back perhaps. Also gardening, I find very 'connecting' and mellow
Your nephew sounds great, 'secure enough in his masculinity' to explore outside of gender-based expectations.