Summer time and the living is....

...well, not easy exactly. But not bad by any means. Pittsburgh eases into summer. One day you wake up sweating, and the next day is refreshingly cool. Back and forth until it's hot all day and all night for many days and nights in a row. People sit outside until very late, at least in neighborhoods like ours where air conditioning is not a given. I love the greenery of summer. I love wearing flip flops. I love when the produce really starts coming in to the farmer's market.

Laurel and I spend the afternoons hunkered down inside the house, curtains drawn against the sun and the traffic outside. I treasure this time with her, where it's just the two of us, and nothing to do. Everybody else at work. Too hot for chores.

Two great things happened today. First, my diploma came, so now I can prove that I have a Master's degree. Second, I went out with the ladies. We went to Kelly's for beer and then stopped at Oh Yeah! for ice cream. I confessed that I used to have a crush on the Oh Yeah! guy. We spent about half the time talking about our babies, and the other half getting to know each other outside of our roles as mom. This mom thing is a little bit like smoking...you can always find a quick friend by asking for a light, and you can always connect with another mom over a childrearing practice. We're friends because we all have babies born in the late autumn, and I don't know how we would have connected otherwise. But they are all women I can see being friends with in other contexts, if fate had pushed us together some other way. Laurel stayed home with Mark. She's learning to crawl and is full of frustration and energy.

I opened this computer with good intentions to do one more resume re-write for yet another job that is posted but has probably been filled by somebody's niece or next-door-neighbor's grown kid. Nepotism schmepotism. Job hunting in Pittsburgh is a drag.

I think I'll put it off until tomorrow, when my brain is more clear. The night air is cool for a change, and I think I'll sleep well, as long as Laurel does. Shh, shh, night, night, as I say to her. Good night.