Wow! Thanks!

What a delightful collection of comments! I love each one, anonymous and named. Thank you for encouragement in the greyest month of the year.

I have participated in almost every cringeworthy fashion you mentioned (except Farrah hair - I never had it, but I admired my sister’s). To those of you who are embarrassed that you imitated a particular celebrity: allow me to comfort you with two facts: first, I spent junior high dressed like Madonna on her first two albums - layered tank tops or muscle shirts, rubber bracelets up to the elbow, wadded rag tying back the hair, fishnets either torn or whole. It was something.

Second, from age 21 to about 26, I was so bewildered by what to do with my thick, curly hair that I kept it super short, opting for the comfort of a shaven neck rather than the hassle of a feminine cut. It was only after Az the devoted husband persuaded me to grow it out that I realized what celebrity haircut I had had all those years.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJQVlVHsFF8]

Suddenly Farrah hair doesn’t look so bad, does it? (Hat tip to Riley for first introducing me to this video.)

I loved hearing about your first crushes. Beck, Az the Skeptical refuses to believe that anyone ever had a crush on Bosley. “Never happened,” he said, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes. Please forgive his impugnment of your honesty. Obviously, if Larry King can get married six times, women are inscrutable mysteries in matters of the heart.

For months I have wanted an excuse to link to this video, and the anonymous Christopher Atkinson admirer has finally given me one. Thank you.

As for your questions:

B&P asked if we are going to try for a boy. We don’t particularly care what sex the babies are, but Az is convinced (with a little pride) that we make exclusively girl babies. I think he sees this as a strange confirmation of his masculinity; only a very manly man can remain a man surrounded by this much pink. It proves how secure he is.

Before we conceived this baby, we had planned on making some permanent birth control decisions after the third baby. We were talking about it again a few months ago, and it gradually dawned on us that we were both planning the Big Fix for the sake of the other, not because we actually wanted it. I thought Az was too anxious about providing for another baby to ask him for four children; Az knows how much I hate being pregnant, and did not want to ask me to go through another pregnancy.

We were both pretending we didn’t want a fourth, but we do. Our conversation ended in two wide-eyed, bashful smiles (rare after ten years of marriage) as we admitted to each other our secret thoughts. So we are going to try for one more baby immediately (well, not IMMEDIATELY, but you know what I mean) after this one is born.

Robbin asked me who my favorite villain was, because I asked her this same question a while back. When I first saw her question, I thought, “Oh crap. Now I have to answer it.”

I think the scariest villain of fiction is Frankenstein’s monster (in the book, not the many movies). The combination of pity for his misfortunes plus his unabashed malevolence gives me chills. The book disturbs me on many levels.

If I have a favorite villain it is probably Dr. Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories. He is so brilliant and polite, and so devilishly selfish. When Az and I discussed what last name I would take when we married, he was against me taking Mitchell, but I wanted our whole family to have the same name. I suggested as a compromise that we both change our last names to something new and neutral. I voted for Moriarty, so that if we ever finish the PhDs, we could be known as “The Doctors Moriarty.” Wouldn’t that be cool?

He declined.

Meredith asks if my graduate degree has something to do with theology. Az gets a little uncomfortable with this question, but if you read my blog, you can probably already guess. My field is not exactly theology, but ancient history, especially as it applies to biblical studies. Hence this topic.

Thank you all again for taking the time to fill up my comments. It means a lot.

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