Word Up

I am a huge word nerd.

My last job surrounded me with people who were in love with fonts or colors or photos, but my personal triumph during the work day would be when I found the perfect word to express the essence of a technique or the yet another synonym for the word "cute." In a professional world of colorful creativity, I wasn't too lonely being the black & white sheep.

With work being my last refuge for regular "adult" conversation, I thought that becoming a full-time mom would be a bit mind-numbing. Jack is just learning how to hold a bit of a conversation, teetering between full-fledged words and blabbering that sounds like words. His almost-there abilities have staved off my habit of staying in my own head for 12 hours while Caleb is at work. Of course, the internet and my cell phone also link me to the outside world, which is incredibly helpful (though the phone conversations are usually with my family, chock full of silly inside jokes and nonsense words that were made up when we were kids).

I sometimes lament inwardly that I've lost my SAT words and replaced them with all of the songs on the "Thomas the Tank Engine" sing-along. I beat myself up over the fact that I've studied French on and off for 10 years and still am not fluent. I roll my eyes over my inability to remember the words "street curb" or "underwear." At times, my brain feels empty of all useful knowledge.

And then I surprise myself. I describe my chances of beating Caleb at Mario Kart Wii as asymptotic. The only word that comes to mind in when describing someone's bristly personality is caustic. I declare that the only thing to embolden a certain someone is some good self-esteem. I bust out the vocabulary words without thinking; they spill out of my mouth and I cheer! This happens at least once a day, and it makes me grateful that I have talents that distract from my knock knees and my off-putting love of lentils.