You have to consider the possibility that god does not like you.

My Dad used to tell me I was copping out when I said I couldn't cook.  He said anyone who can read can cook.  Tonight I have made Chinese hot and sour soup in the slow cooker.  We shall see if he was correct.

I have developed more of an interest in cooking lately, for some reason.  Maybe I just want to know what I am putting inside my body.  Or maybe I am on the brink of becoming a domestic goddess with Martha Stewart cloth napkins and an appetite for cleaning.


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Yesterday I took J shopping for her grad dress.  We brought my mother-in-law, who is exactly the sort of person everyone wants with them when shopping for a dress because her opinions are instant and definite.  Good lord, take that dress off, it's wearing you! she laughs.  Or, Oh my god (dabbing tears), you're beautiful!  I frustrate J when we shop together because I look for her opinion first before offering mine. And my opinions about clothes are always wishy-washy.  Hmm... yeah, that's okay.  Not bad.  She found a dress in the third place we went, and she loves it.  So does the mother-in-law.

While J tried on dresses, I noticed other girls in the store watching her.  She's really very beautiful, even in the most awful dresses.  Seeing her in a specific dress inspired another girl to try on the same one, who did not end up liking it on herself.  This happened several times with several different girls.  I am suddenly surprised by how strikingly lovely J has grown up to be.  The best part is that she does not know it.

(On the way home, my mother-in-law complimented my driving.  It's so smooth, she said, like you're not even driving a standard!  I have driven standard my whole life and never had anyone offer me this kind of feedback.  It seems like something you would say to a seventeen-year old who has just learned to drive.  My mother-in-law is the best.)


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