Caterwauling

An old Friday Five that felt entirely too appropriate:

1. Who is your favorite superhero?
Wonderbra. She lifts and separates with a single credit card appearance!

2. If you could have any superpower what would it be?
Ah, a super-sexy tomcat has declared that I shall be “Whatever Woman.” And that my arch-nemesis is the Crimson Assclown.

My power is that when my nemesis (or anyone, for that matter) annoys me, my powers kick in and, with a dismissive flick of my wrist, I send the nitwit scurrying for relevance.

3. What would your super outfit look like?
I’m still going with the Wonderbra. 😉 Preferably in black, perhaps with some kind of tiny sparkle. I might even kick in the extra coupla bucks and buy the matching underwear. Oh, who are we kidding — of COURSE I need the matching scandalous underwear!

4. What would your super villain/nemesis be like?
See “Assclown, Crimson” above.

Anyone spreading insipidness, irrelevance and general idiocy to the world, causing stress and pain to the intelligent people who can’t get a word or an emotion in edgewise.

5. What would your catch phrase/calling card be?
Um, duh: “Whatever, OK?”

Also, I have a Happy Bunny sticker on my car that says “Eat Me.” I got it because that’s my favorite thing to say. 😉 Might need to add it for emphasis.

Why is it when I say that I am on meds, everyone automatically assumes it’s Prozac?

Sheesh — am I THAT tightly wound?!?! 😀

Then again, don’t answer that. 😉

Ah, the ever-quoteworthy “Grey’s Anatomy” rides again. …

There comes a time in one’s life when she realizes that she has spent so much time trying to save the world or, at least, the worlds of those around her. But, while she wasn’t looking, she forgot to take care of herself. And the wear-and-tear eventually starts to show.

For me, that day was yesterday.

And that time in one’s life? My 30s — the time when all of my friends have told me that your body changes so much that your mind needs to follow suit.

For me, years of overachieving and now oceans of guilt over not being as far ahead of the game as I planned to be or, hell, as I used to be have officially taken their toll.

I’m mad at myself for falling behind — and I’m weary at all the life events that I’ve missed out on as well. But I’m aware of all the steps that I skipped in the process, and maybe this is my time to go back and learn what I didn’t know then. And to make things right.

That said, it’s pretty bad when you’re in with your new physician for 10 minutes and you’re being shoved out the door with a purse full of meds and a list of workups they want to do because their diagnosis is that you’ve officially driven yourself nuts. Ha.

I’ll be fine soon enough. In the meantime, this is a grand opportunity to make a new beginning — time to delete all the 3,000 e-mails I had the best intentions of answering but never seem to get around to doing. Time to excavate/clean/pack the house, go on vacation, do that writing that always makes me happy, find my dream apartment, dust off the elliptical — and do it. Motion begets momentum.

Outstanding issues make me nervous and render me ineffective. I think that’s why I’ve become brilliant — nay, addicted — to multitasking. Because being super-busy is a wonderful distraction from noticing all that remains unresolved.

When you’re clinging to a life preserver, you wonder why you’ve held everyone in your life at arm’s length for so long — why you’ve been so afraid of really, truly being touched in every way possible. How you can offer up every single part of yourself to anyone to asks, just as long as they don’t stay the night. How you’re taken aback when someone wants to corrode those walls — how you’re even more stunned when you find yourself being anything but opposed to the idea.

I’ve spent my life being a book-smart overachiever. But whether it was my intention or not, I always wanted to fix the people and things around me — all the while letting myself collapse with nary a hint of wanting to preserve me.

For the first time in my life, I’m going to need help. I’m going to ask for it and even take it. And if all you can do is just love me, that could very well be what I’ve needed all along to help me to heal.