Guest post by Ginger

First of all, I am so sad because I wrote this whole blog and then my computer crashed and I lost it. I’ll try to re-create my magic!

After reading yesterday about Shannon’s (and Brandon’s) play date with Emery, the first thing I thought was how true it is that Brandon is Shannon’s kid. Now I’m sure all kids throw dirt and things but from my experience, Brandon definitely likes to throw things. Dirt, his Cheetos, a shoe (and then a sock), anything out of the shopping cart, his (full) apple juice container at my head…you get the drift.

Has Shannon ever shared with you how much she liked to throw things at her friends (and/or shove them in their faces.)? Dirt, peanut butter, pizza, flour…

My favorite memory that comes to mind is one day Shannon was hanging out at my house. We were wandering around the neighborhood, getting into all sorts of trouble I’m sure. I don’t remember the exact details, but we got in a dirt fight (because we were super girly girls like that). And yes she started it. We had dirt EVERYWHERE. In our hair. In our ears. In our clothes. In..well you get the picture. Did I mentioned that we were middle school? Eventually Shannon’s mom showed up to pick her up. After she left, I continued to hang out with some of the hoodlums in my neighborhood. After about 5 minutes I see Shannon’s mom’s car head back down the road towards me. She flips a U-turn so she is on the same side of the road as me and rolls down the window. “WHY IS THERE DIRT IN MY DAUGHTERS EARS AND HAIR?” She shouts at me. Anyone who knows Shannon’s mom know exactly the tone of voice she was using! I was shocked. Shannon just sat there all quiet and innocent, like she didn’t do ANYTHING wrong and I was the one who started the dirt fight. I WAS SO NOT THE ONE WHO STARTED IT!

And then there was the time my dad took us out for pizza and out of no-where she just shoved my piece of pizza in my face. Emery, Ezra…I would watch out for these two if I were you.

Guest post by Ginger

First of all, I am so sad because I wrote this whole blog and then my computer crashed and I lost it. I’ll try to re-create my magic!

After reading yesterday about Shannon’s (and Brandon’s) play date with Emery, the first thing I thought was how true it is that Brandon is Shannon’s kid. Now I’m sure all kids throw dirt and things but from my experience, Brandon definitely likes to throw things. Dirt, his Cheetos, a shoe (and then a sock), anything out of the shopping cart, his (full) apple juice container at my head…you get the drift.

Has Shannon ever shared with you how much she liked to throw things at her friends (and/or shove them in their faces.)? Dirt, peanut butter, pizza, flour…

My favorite memory that comes to mind is one day Shannon was hanging out at my house. We were wandering around the neighborhood, getting into all sorts of trouble I’m sure. I don’t remember the exact details, but we got in a dirt fight (because we were super girly girls like that). And yes she started it. We had dirt EVERYWHERE. In our hair. In our ears. In our clothes. In..well you get the picture. Did I mentioned that we were middle school? Eventually Shannon’s mom showed up to pick her up. After she left, I continued to hang out with some of the hoodlums in my neighborhood. After about 5 minutes I see Shannon’s mom’s car head back down the road towards me. She flips a U-turn so she is on the same side of the road as me and rolls down the window. “WHY IS THERE DIRT IN MY DAUGHTERS EARS AND HAIR?” She shouts at me. Anyone who knows Shannon’s mom know exactly the tone of voice she was using! I was shocked. Shannon just sat there all quiet and innocent, like she didn’t do ANYTHING wrong and I was the one who started the dirt fight. I WAS SO NOT THE ONE WHO STARTED IT!

And then there was the time my dad took us out for pizza and out of no-where she just shoved my piece of pizza in my face. Emery, Ezra…I would watch out for these two if I were you.

by Ginger

Since Shannon hasn’t banned me from her blog yet (which means she trusts me enough that she knows I wouldn’t post those really embarrassing photos of her) and even though her and baby Codi are home and safe, I figured I would still take this opportunity to shamelessly promote my own blog That Kind of Girl.

I’ve recently been reading a book called True Pleasures: A memoir of a women in Paris by Lucinda Holdforth. To summarize quickly, it is the book of a 40-something women who takes off to Paris after a turning point in her life. She has a background in French literature and wants to further research the allure of femininity of these famous women who lived in Paris and of Paris itself. “Paris is a great beauty. As such it possess all the qualities that one finds in any other great beauty; chic, sexiness, grandeur, arrogance, and the absolute inability and refusal to listen to reason.” Fran Lebowitz.

The book covers all sorts of Parisian’s, women from the time of Louis XIV to the likes of Gertrude Stein and Coco Channel. The author explores the life, loves and passions of these famous, extraordinary women. Many of these women where not natives of Paris, or France at all. Many of them were Americans, or English. They felt a certain pull from the femininity they found in Paris. There is a common theme among many of the women who the author choose to highlight. The idea that Paris was a place to reinvent yourself…you become the person you always wanted to be. To be the independent lover with her pick of suitors, the powerful business women having a glass of wine at 12 in a cafe, the mistress being supported by her lover or the bohemian intellectual with suitors forming a line down the street.

There are examples of women moving halfway across the world, escaping from lives of a submissive married wife. Escaping the life of being a mother. Escaping a life of persecution or boredom. One of her subjects left a life in the English countryside, with four children, to move to Paris and live the rest of her life out as a single women in Paris in the 18th century. She never looked back and filled the remainder of her life with lovers, suitors and late nights filled with intellectual conversations. Some of the women choose to never have children, some choose to incorporate their children into their lives.

The question arose, after reading this book, if I had the chance, would I give it all up and reinvent myself? Would I choose a life filled with passion, power and intelligent conversation over a life filled with love, children and family?

Would you?

Jen will be posting on Saturday November 17th. So Jen you will have access to my blog that day to write anything you want. Don’t forget because you have to keep up with my NaBloPoMo. You can write anything you want. Here is Jen’s story.