Friday, soon a new year

Finally Friday, and soon the end of the month AGAIN. I cannot believe it is December and that 2008 soon is over. Thank god, I would have to say because this year has been very tough for many of my friends and family; deaths, separations and divorces. A few newborns and a few happy couples but not enough to compensate for all the negativeness. Tomorrow I am having a "glögg" party with some friends to celebrate first Advent which is on Sunday so that should be nice. Next year has got to be better.

Hanging on the telephone

A few days ago I had a preliminary "date" with the man I fancy and on that day I did not hear a single word from him- no sms, no email, no phone call. As this has happened before with him I was not surprised, but disappointed. How hard is it in this day and age if you change your plans to just send an sms? Apparently very difficult... I spoke to him this morning and he told me he had been staying overnight with friends and had no credit on his phone, but when you agree to get in touch to arrange to meet, why don't you? I have many male friends in my close circle and many of them seem to have a big problem with getting in touch in a timely manner. Phone calls are never made, sms messages are left unanswered and appointments are cancelled without notification. It saddens me as I am a great communicator and find my friends very important - so TO ME it means something when we agree to get in touch or to meet. Apparently it does not mean as much to many of the people I know - a shame. In this particular case I was a little more disappointed than usual as I want us to be more than just friends (which he doesn't know about) but I think I will just have to learn that promises don't mean much and "let's get in touch" should not be taken so seriously, not with some at least.

The Dora effect

My son who is now four is getting Spanish lessons in the nursery once a week and his father is trying to speak Spanish with him on a regular basis but my son has shown no interest whatsoever in learning the language. He only wants to speak Swedish and has even become angry when I or anyone else have asked him what certain words are in Spanish or in English. Until now I should say as now he has discovered Dora the Explorer, which are computer games and films where a little dark-haired girl speaks both Spanish and English and asks the player/viewer to repeat her words and expressions. To my great joy this Dora character has made my son really interested in languages all of a sudden and yesterday he asked me what different words in Swedish were called in Spanish and English! I am so glad that he can take this with him, that is learning languages at such an early age - he will have so much for free later on. Talk about Dora effect!

Uncle Edon

After having days and weeks of feeling great and meeting with wonderful close friends and having a sense that my life is finally on the right track again, I received a phone call from my cousin yesterday who told me her father, my uncle had died of cardiac arrest. It was as if time stopped. It is just so hard when someone you care about is pulled away like that and you know you will not see them again. I thought about my cousins and my aunt yesterday, of the difficult times they are going to have to go through now -exactly what I went through with my mum three years ago. Even my son was saddened by the news as he was very close with my uncle and loved having chats with him whenever they met. He asked me, "is uncle Edon (as he called him. His real name was Egon but my son cannot say "g" properly) with my grandmother now? - I don't want that!" Well, I don't want that either...

Oh my god I am soooo old...

I was sitting in the train on my way from work the other day and next to me were three blond girls with lots of make-up, aged 20. One of them said "oh my god I am turning 21 next week, I cannot believe how old I am! It's terrible!" The other girls agreed. Then one of them said "now that we are turning 21 we cannot get filthy drunk anymore like we used to - we're just going to be too old for that kind of behaviour" - the others nodded. I was just sitting there laughing quitely to myself when I thought - but if they are old when they are 21, what am I at 38- ancient? And I am not allowed to get drunk either at my age...oops!

Ode to family

Yesterday my brother came to my house for dinner and it was lovely to see him. He and my son now have great contact so that is wonderful to see, and important. I thought of how my family has actually grown in the last few years. First, it decreased drastically since my mum who was the heart of the family disappeared, and then even more as I divorced my husband, but now my family has grown again as I have closer contact with siblings, friends, cousins, aunts and uncles and friends of my mum. It is lovely - and I can see how my son loves to be surrounded by warm, caring people who do not fit the classical picture of a typical family but by being so close and present in our lives are so important to us. Hurrah for family!

A funny mama

On Saturday my godson (4,5 years old) spent the whole day with me and my son (4) and we had a great time. We played charades, memory and computer games (Dora the Explorer) and went to the playground. At around 5.30 pm we sat down to have dinner and my godson said "oh it's so quiet and cosy here, and even the cats are eating - what a lovely dinner!" and my son nodded in agreement. Then my godson spotted the painting on the wall- a pink painting with a woman with big breasts."Oh look at the funny mama on the wall- why does she look so strange?" Well, I told him she has quite big breasts. "Oh why does she have such big breasts?" Well, some women do was my vague answer. And both boys looked at each other and burst into laughter; "big breasts, how funny!" (Note: The painting in this item is not the painting in question but by my friend Sebastian Chedal.)