Thursday, November 18, 2010

Fate has intentions

So, the boy toy gave me herpes. Yes, now, after several years of sleeping together pretty regularly, at a point where I was considering suspending our sexual relationship. It really makes my brain wonder and try to impose meaning and significance to the development. I mean, really, now? Things were slowing down, I was contemplating having a child with my husband, then bam, pain, mad crazy itchiness, extreme messiness, and a trip to the doctor. By the time they got back to me with the lab results I'd pretty much confirmed my diagnosis on Google Images. Yep, that's what I've got, let's see how horrible it is. Turns out it's really not that horrible and about a fifth of the population has it, many of them without knowing they do. It's not exactly a very feisty virus despite the social stigma, but it's really really uncomfortable when you first get it. I can emphatically attest to that. But now I'm diagnosed, I have medication with refills, and I will be ok, I just have herpes, which is annoying.
I've looked into how it will affect a pregnancy and it looks like the dangers are minimal. It's extremely rare to pass it along to the fetus. One needs to explain to ones obgyn that you have the virus and then they take pains to make sure you're not having an outbreak during labor which will result in them recommending a c-section. Dear god do I ever want to avoid one of those. I think I'll stick to my original plan and wait until spring to attempt getting knocked up. My system will have had a little time to battle the virus into some semblance of submission by then. It's just that it's one more thing, one more risk factor in something that I already consider a bit of a craps shoot. If this all works out like it's supposed to ideally, I'm going to breathe a very deep sigh of relief even knowing the roller coaster of sleepless nights I'm about to be plunged into as part of the joys of parenthood. Blah! This was hard enough a notion to entertain and I think I'm still....oops, was interupted and can't remember where I was going with that thought. Anyway, it's a struggle and this development makes it more challenging, but I know I will adjust and my outlook will change.
It's interesting and irritating that Jake seems to be avoiding me now too. He didn't answer the last time I called, and he's been very reluctant to engage in any banter. I mean, how does that work, he gives me herpes and then he wants nothing to do with me? Of course, he didn't know he had it, and learning that he did was probably somewhat troublesome for him but it just doesn't seem fair. Yeah, I know, life isn't fair. I just don't know what to do about it yet. He's my primary go to person for hanging out casually and my life is rather more boring without him around to fill those yawning chasms in my social life. He likes to kill time in some of the same ways I do and it's nice to have the company. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get him to talk, he may just want out. I will probably try for a good while just to see if he eventually decides its worth it. He can be a little demanding in the desire to have an audience, and I would like for him to be ok with me being so inaccessible, but it's a complicated compromise. I know I've been stepping back since working full time as it has heightened my desire to have time to myself and people take so much energy for me to interact with. I know that has bothered him, but I don't know if it's something he and i will be able to find a tenable compromise on. And this development just makes it more challenging. We shall see. I'm certain much less hysterical and overwrought about the prospect than I once would have been.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

On the Table

There's something about the prospect of actually writing that causes my brain to shy away in all sorts of directions. I caught myself staring and my muted version of People's Court just as soon as I opened this page. That doesn't bode well for any hypothetical future I may have as a writer of any ilk. I wonder if I'll ever accept that, or if somehow, someday, I will find a way around my aversion and charge full speed ahead into the creative industry. I want pretzels now, and I'm not hungry, my brain is just looking for an excuse not to write.
I have a few things I want to record too, and that's what this essentially is, an aimless record of the things I obsess over at various moments in the course of my life. It's just my way of making the most of my existence. I know I won't remember everything, and this helps, particularly when some of the things I'm focused on are more momentous than usual.
For instance, my brother and sister in law are having their first child here in the next few months. I have to assume that has something to do with the tenor of my own thoughts on the matter of reproduction. I don't think it was the only instigator, but the fact that I used it as an introduction to the idea says something about it's place my my thought hierarchy. I think mostly it's been Tim's persistent desire to have a child, and my own change of attitude as I come to grips with my atheism. My morbid obsession with my own mortality seems to have waned and I feel like I've become more emotional stable of late. I also feel like I'm moving into another stage of my life, albeit belatedly. My ideas about self indulgence no longer exclude the addition of a child to my life, in fact, they may include them. To be clearer, I dislike working my dead end administrative job, I don't hate it, I'd just like to not do it and still find a way to be productive. In light of the fact that I seem to not have pursued writing as a self gratifying career option, I'm beginning to consider raising a child as a good and appropriate long term project that I would find more rewarding than the activities I'm currently engaged in. Additionally I've gotten to the point in my affair with Jake that allows for me to not be too unhappy about the idea of possibly losing him as a sex partner. I say that now because he's kept me pretty damned satisfied in that regard despite T's continued failure to do so. Yeah, that's a consideration, I may be fine with the idea, but if T doesn't step it up again I may find myself growing really really restless in that regard, a situation that could become much more fraught with complication if he does unbend enough to at least procreate with me. To sum up, I'm not depressed anymore, I don't enjoy my job, I lack a sense of purpose, and I'm tired of maintaining a relationship with the boy toy. Sounds like a perfect situation to bring a child into right? Ok, but T really wants one, and I think I might enjoy the process of raising one.
I know no one is ever really prepared until you're actually doing it. I know this will change my life, and I will probably experience pangs of regret for my old life from time to time, but I think the pros will outweigh the cons. At least, I think they will if all goes well. There is the fact that having a child is such a total craps shoot in many regards and that I am approaching that age when the risks of things going wrong begin to increase, but it seems acceptable to me, kind of a hope for the best attitude I suppose. In any case, if nothing changes between now and spring, I think I'll at least be making the attempt. Autism risks aside, I'm not planning to do another summer pregnancy, that would just suck. Plus I think that way I can stockpile enough cash to finance a few things when I stop working.
Yeah, what the hell am I thinking. No more sleepovers with Jake when the spouse is out of town. No more random trips up to Busch Garden's with him. No more escaping whimsically on the weekends for unaccounted hours while I watch Jake play video games and talk about whatever comes up. And dear god I'll have to deal more with the MIL. Who even knows what my own mother will do if this comes to fruition. Of course by then she should be attached enough to the grandchild over there that maybe it will be a non issue. Anyway, I really have thought about all of these things obsessively, and I'll probably continue to do so, but as matters stand I think it's something I will wind up pursuing, and yes it will change my life.
Jake, you snide son of a bitch, I'll probably miss you and your passive aggressive ways. Ok, you've been getting on my nerves lately with your cute little blame game, your ease to take offense, and your brutal self justified remarks. You can be compassionate, clever, funny, thoughtful and genuinely nice...when it suits you, but sometimes I find you exhausting. In fairness, you probably think the same of me, I know I'm not always so easy to deal with. I can be tactless, and abrupt, I just am not so sure you realize that road goes both ways all the time, and I find that I'm less tolerant of your little blame game as time goes on. I'm not sure what that will eventually do to our "relationship", but I suspect we're going to find out.
Now, on with the holiday season. I will have a mass influx of family in the next few weeks and I'm finally going home for Christmas this year. I'll probably bludgeon my poor little brain into updating soon enough.