Erin McCarthy, Roseanne Cash and the OB Waiting Room

I just read another good book by Erin McCarthy, HEIRESS FOR HIRE. I'm mentioning her again because it is actually pretty amazing when I read three books in a row by the same author and am very satisified with all three reads.

Yes, I have my auto-buys authors I love, love love. Now Ms. McCarthy has made it to this list too. If you haven't tried her yet I recommend starting with PREGNANCY TEST.

She writes kind of screwball romances. This sort of description usually puts me off because I'm hooked on tortured and/or intense men who do what they have to but not without a personal price. This means I'm crazy for the Carpathians that Feehan writes, the SEALS that Brockmann writes, and those Dark Hunters that Kenyon writes. But, I digress, as usual.

Ms. McCarthy writes about regular people with regular people conflicts. Her characters frequently have a sharp and witty edge and lots of humanity. What can I say I like 'em!!

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About fame...

I read an article in the LA Times yesterday about a new CD by Roseanne Cash, daughter of Johnny Cash. I've always liked her voice and have enjoyed her music over the years. She's one of those people whose music the listener feels.

Anyway, my interest in the article was regarding her feelings about the movie WALK THE LINE, the biopic about her Dad, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.

Roseanne is still grieving for her father and her mother, Johnny Cash's first wife who died just 6 weeks before the movie came out. As you can imagine, it was a painful experience for Roseanne and her sisters. While Roseanne was able to see the movie at a private screening, she spoke about how difficult it was to see. Can you imagine watching a movie that shows the love of your father's life, to the exclusion of almost everything else, isn't your own mother but another woman? Not only that, but you have to share the knowledge of this with the world?

I don't think there is enough compensation in the world that can make up for that kind of exposure of your personal life. Artists and performers, even those I don't like who are publicity hounds, have no privacy. No amount of fame and fortune is worth losing the quiet enjoyment of just living. I'm so grateful for the anonymity to live my life in peace.

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Ugh...the annual OB-GYN

Tomorrow is my lucky day. Annual visit to my gynnie. I don't know what I hate worse...the excruciating wait in his office, or the fact that I will have to come back when he reviews the test results for all the crap he is going to order for me to take. The actual exam never bothers me, but the waiting room sucks!

You know when you've never been pregnant it is absolute torture to sit in a room full of pregnant women who invariably end up in a discussion of their swollen ankles, hemmoroids, constipation, sore boobs, what current cure they are using to prevent stretch marks, and either a colorful recounting of a previous delivery or an equally colorful accounting of a delivery gone wrong. Or there is a first-time mother who is nervous and worried about what can go wrong to which there are several accountings of horror stories about birthin' babies followed by lots of pats and words of encouragement that "everything is going to be okay". At this point the first time mother is hyper ventilating and needs to be medicated almost as much as I do.

You think torture is too strong a word? NO! Because almost without exception someone will ask me if I have children. "Yes" I reply knowing what is coming next. Which is usually some question to include me in the conversation. At this point I have a lightening decision to make. Tell them my children are adopted or lie and make up a fake pregnancy story. I'm not that good a story teller, so I opt for the truth. And as God is my witness I end up in a Q&A about adoption.

While I'm an enthusiastic proponent of adoption I usually don't like to say too much to strangers about it. For one thing there is a lot of judgement on women who choose adoption for their babies. Since I'm the happy beneficiary of this unbelievable act of courage and love, I get a little testy with the "I could NEVER give my baby up!" comments. Who asked you anyway, I always wonder?

Secondly, a room full of women who are pregnant don't usually have any interest in adoption beyond morbid curiousity. Yes, I know, maybe one of them is contemplating adoption herself. From personal experience, I can assure you, if there is a woman among them who is thinking about relinquishing her baby, she isn't going to be discussing it in a roomful of pregnant women at the OB's office.

So what do I do? I book my appointment either very early or end of the day. I isolate myself to an unused corner of the waiting room...if it isn't packed. And lastly, I bring a book which I immediately open and bury my face in. The conversation can still be loud and distracting, but as long as I don't make eye contact and keep my nose buried I won't get sucked into it.

After enduring that the big TRANSITION MEETING at work on Thursday will seem like a piece of cake!