Common

Two new features to the blog. First, since I frequently make mention of my dorkness and dorky ways, I have decided to embrace this part of me and incorporate an occasional “why I am a dork” feature into my blog. Over Labor Day weekend, I was at my mom and step-dad’s and my feet were a bit sore and dry, so I decided to prop them up on the couch. Then, I noticed my mom’s basket of lotions in the spare bedroom, so I grabbed some lotion and rubbed my feet to alleviate the soreness. Well, the lotion worked and I felt better. The next day, I had my feet propped up on the dashboard in Jeff’s car when I noticed brown streaks on my feet and lower legs. Turns out that the lotion was self-tanning lotion and I still have streaky brown feet.

Due to the internet, I know for certain I am not the only dork on the planet and there is comfort in that feeling. There is comfort in finding common ground with other people, no matter how tenuous the ground may be, which leads me to the second new feature: work irritation of the week. This week’s irritation stems from the fact that I don’t have much in common with anyone at work. Since I spend so much time working, this is irritatingly important to me, trying to find things I have in common with people around me. When I worked with many women, it was easier to find large things, like marriage and children. Being pregnant, I always appreciate being able to exchange thoughts and experiences on gestation. I learned just this week that the wife of one of my coworkers is pregnant and due in early December. Again, I realize that we aren’t the best of friends, but since I have to haul my pregnant form into my office every day, it seems that at least once it would have come up between us. He does on occasion ask how I am feeling, which might have segued into the comment “My wife is pregnant,” but now I realize that those queries are designed to gauge whether I am about to give birth while on work premises. So, that’s frustrating.

I find myself drawn to different message boards on the internet, where I could interact with others with similar interests – in my case, usually movies. However, more often than not I read posts by others but don’t often feel moved to post my own thoughts. I am unsure why. But sometimes when I read that someone likes pizza, I think that I should comment that I like pizza as well. It is rare to find two people in the vast sea of people, both liking pizza, finding common ground.

Sometimes there is just comfort in discovering sameness among people you already know. For example, my sister and I just discovered that we share the same blood type (B-). Blood type becomes important when you’re pregnant because of the RH factor. Since we are both negatives, we also discovered that our husbands are both AB+. Since Jami and I are step-sisters, we don’t share a genetic link, so it was interesting to learn we both had the same blood type. It was a simple example of a small connection. We bonded over the pains of pregnancy and the frustration of potty training (even though her two oldest children were potty-trained years ago). And despite having been married for six years, Jeff and I are still discovering shared likes and dislikes. We just alike enough -- and different enough -- to keep things interesting.

So, if you have a blood type or if you like pizza, please feel free to share your thoughts.