Becca’s World

61%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Now if I could just remember to write on my own blog more often, I’d have gotten a higher score.

When I had my first opportunity to listen to “My December” the whole way through, I came away with the impression that it was perfect. I wondered why it hadn’t sold better so far (and seemed to lead to the cancellation of a planned tour).

I recently read a review at Infuze that does a great job explaining the situation. I agree that Kelly is growing as an artist. I could tell that was happening with her second CD when I enjoyed more of its songs than I had with the first. The move away from American-Idol ballads and pop pleased me.

Kelly may lose some of her initial fans because of this growth, but I see it as a positive move for her career. It’s strange, though, that as angst and honesty increases with each CD, her popularity might decrease; for Alanis Morrisette, it was the angst that made her popular. Alanis’ subsequent decision to move on had many fans confused, but that was when I understood her and felt an appreciation for “Jagged Little Pill.”

Love of music is a subjective thing, and I hope that folks will give Kelly a chance to grow. I don’t want her stuck in songs of despair, but the honest tone and edginess she’s gained is much more satisfying than silly pop songs (see Avril’s “Best Damn Thing” for an example of disappointing regression).

Best wishes, guys, on your special day. This is the beginning of a new journey and you are not alone at any step of the way. Your friends and family support you and we’ll be here for you no matter what you experience in life. “For better or for worse” applies to us as well; we hope for the best situations each day of your marriage and will do everything in our power to get you past the worst days quickly, so that they’re only small bumps in the road.

Enjoy this day to the fullest and make many wonderful memories. You may be exhausted by the end of the day, but every celebration of this magnitude is worth expending all your energy!

Hugs from the Carter family, plus a few celebratory kicks from Baby,

Rebecca Ann

We’re in the middle of some hot days here in Southern BC, and I’ve been looking for ways to stay cool. Here are my conclusions:

- Get a good fan or two if there’s no AC at home.

- Drink lots of water.

- Indulge in Slurpees/slushies and ice cream.

- Be smart about when you exercise and play outside – early morning and evening are best.

Probably common sense, but a little of that goes a long way…

I have some better-than-great, totally stupendous news to share, and some very bad news as well.

Rob’s doctors have determined that the combination of chemotherapy and the drugs they prescribed has resulted in remission from cancer. He’s not exactly at his best (since chemo tends to kill all cells, not just the cancerous ones) but he’s still with us. He says he plans to stay that way for quite some time, and no one in the house has a problem with that, I can assure you.

Once he’s healthier, the company that hired him to go around the world will find a team for him and send him out there. He’s promised to be back for a lot of vacations, though, so we don’t go through “Rob withdrawal.”

Unfortunately, Tanya’s now back in the picture wanting her dream wedding. I just can’t let that happen, and I have a very narrow timeline for getting through to Martin. I’ll have to put all my energy into this extremely important project. I don’t even care about WG right now, if you can believe it.

* * *

Thank goodness for miracles, great and small!

I tried everything I could think of in the days leading up to the nuptials, even picking a fight with Tanya in front of Martin. I really don’t care whether someone uses a dry-cleaner rather than washing their fanciest clothes at home, but it was the only opening I saw at the time. I hoped it would make her look snobby and totally his opposite to have her insisting that I was stupid to trust my delicates to a washing machine, no matter how many settings they add to newer machines.

I think we both looked crazy, but I was willing to sacrifice myself for his happiness. And he definitely wouldn’t be happy with that witch. But he didn’t see that and he broke up our war of words. I swear she was close to catfight mode, and I’m not entirely convinced I could beat her in a physical match. Martin intervened at the right time, bless his heart.

A week before the date Tanya had chosen – see, she didn’t even let Martin have a say in the matter – Carrie and Melissa confronted me. They wanted me to see a doctor because I’d lost my appetite. After Rob’s illness, I could understand them getting so worried, but I assured them I was fine. I even claimed I’d put off the WG marathons because I was busy writing my speech as the best man. I couldn’t even begin to tackle that, but the excuse worked for a couple of days. Then they sicced Martin on me.

I told him I was fine, but I didn’t really want him to believe that. Could I get him to break up with her just out of concern for my well-being? I doubted it, while still wanting to play that card.

Finally, when he continued to ask questions, including whether I thought I was suffering from depression, I had to try to tell the truth.

“I can’t do it,” I said.

“Do what?” His voice was so gentle, and his hand so warm as he sought to encourage me by patting my hand, that I nearly burst into tears. At least one escaped and he pulled out a handkerchief – yes, an honest-to-goodness handkerchief – to wipe my cheeks. “Honey, talk to me.”

“I can’t be your best man.”

“Why not? Is it the suit Tanya wants you to wear? I admit it’s totally wrong for you. We can go shopping today for something classier, maybe a suit you’d wear to work or a fancy party. Will that help?”

I shook my head. It was too difficult to form the words that had to be spoken. Why could all the characters on WG come up with wonderful declarations of love every week and I had no clue how to broach the topic?

“What is it? Are you offended by the term ‘best man’? I asked her to print the programs with ‘best friend’ but she refused on grounds of tradition and all that. Between you and me, though, tradition doesn’t matter for this. You’re the best friend, best woman, best everything.”

I had started to laugh at the idea that I’d refuse to stand up with him just because of a silly title, but my smile melted when he ended his impromptu speech in such a sweet way. He was the perfect man, I was sure of it. And that loosened my tongue.

“Martin, I love you. Please don’t marry anyone.”

He didn’t say anything to that, and I thought I’d totally blown it. I couldn’t move my legs to run away from the humiliation of unrequited love, so I sat there in misery waiting for him to tell me he wanted to stay friends.

Then I noticed he was holding my hand. How could I have missed that very important physical contact? He wasn’t letting go, either, which meant… Wow.

He looked up, smiling a little. “That was too close for comfort. I almost married a woman I really can’t stand.”

I laughed. For a second I thought that was an insensitive reaction and he’d be mad at me, but he laughed too. “What was I thinking?”

“That’s what I’ve been wondering. And I didn’t know how to tell you. I even resorted to picking fights with her.”

“Sorry, you were outmatched there. But I did agree with you about wasting money on drycleaning.” An accompanying wink would have disabled my legs if they had been working at that point. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thrown myself at him when we first met. But he was just a quiet stranger then, and now he was Martin, the best man I knew.

“When did you know?”

I could myself going red. “A bit after Rod got the good news. When Tanya picked a new date, I suddenly understood why I had to stop the wedding. Before that, I just thought that she was the wrong woman for you.”

“You were right. And I had convinced myself there was no way I was going to get Miss Right, even though we live in the same house.”

“So you probably hate Willow Grove then.”

“Not really. I don’t think it’s the most brilliant show out there, but I enjoy watching it because of you and that obsession of yours.”

OK, so maybe he wasn’t perfect after all. I’d still take him, though. “We have a lot to catch up on now that a certain crisis is averted.”

“We can start right away if you want. And I bet we can get everyone to join us on the non-wedding day. We’ll make a party out of it. The Willow Grove marathon to end all marathons.”

I won’t bore you with too many details, but I will say that there were kisses before he had to deal with Tanya. He made sure his cell phone had plenty of battery life and told me to call if he wasn’t back in an hour.

“I’m serious. I don’t want to be with her any longer than I have to, and your call could be my reason to bolt.”

When he returned (without my needing to phone), it was time for the weekly WG viewing. Carrie, Rob and Melissa seemed relieved that I didn’t bow out yet again and when Martin sat with his arm around me, we were in for a bit of confusion and then teasing. Martin explained to them that there would be no wedding, but instead a party at our house, with even more WG but no Tanya.

“So now we know why Kaitlin has been moping around the place for a while but has suddenly recovered.” Everyone joined Rob in laughing at me, but I didn’t mind one bit. Sure, I blushed, but who wouldn’t when their brand-new boyfriend kisses them in front of the whole house to remove any doubt as to the woman he loves?

Carrie grabbed the nearest cordless phone and took orders for pizza, declaring that we couldn’t get far through WG without attempting to “put some flesh back onto Katie’s bones.” I would have given her a friendly punch, but Martin held me back and told me he would help force-feed me if necessary.

Yes, everything was back to normal at our place. Better than normal, really. And within a month, Carrie apparently took it as a good sign for her love life that she lived with two happy couples; she started dating again and found a nice guy named Brian who understands her enthusiasm for fitness even if he isn’t quite as active. She’ll bring him around, though.

And that’s about all for my story. I have another week of WG to watch, folks.