The King is dead

And I'm not talking about Elvis, folks. Yes, Elvis was the King...of rock and roll. But my musical tastes are of the pop variety, and my age makes me a child of the 1980s, so my King was Michael Jackson.

We all know he was strange, weird, bizarre, whatever. And he was, with all the plastic surgery, the hyperbaric chamber, and Bubbles the Chimp. Not to mention the "I like boys to sleep in my bed" saga. But what can't be denied is that the man was a musical genius. He was put on this earth to be a pop sensation like no other.

I was 5 years old when Thriller was released. I specifically remember opening the album and seeing the picture of Michael with the tiger cub, the way the photo was soft, almost blurry. Never before and not since, has there been an album of absolute perfection, song by song. My personal favorite...P.Y.T! His music was synonymous with my childhood. My mom used to play Thriller and when Vincent Price laughed at the end, she would turn up the volume REALLY LOUD and I would laugh. It's one of my favorite childhood memories, and to this day, I call mom on Halloween and do the same thing.

There was alot of talk lately about a Michael Jackson comeback. I never thought he would "come back" to his glory days. It just wasn't realistic. But I never dreamed he would die at 50 years old. His music will surely live on, though, and when I have a little girl, I'll play Thriller for her and turn up the speakers, and she'll laugh, too.

Babies are like cars

Have you ever decided you were going to by a new car, or in my case, a new-old car? Once you decide on the model you want, you see that car everywhere. Years ago, when I narrowed my choice from Nissan Maxima or Infiniti G35 to just the G35, all of the sudden I started to see G35s all over town. How come I hadn't noticed them before? That's how I feel about babies. Now that I've decided I want one (well, I always wanted one, I just didn't want one right then), I see babies everywhere I turn! They're on TV, at the grocery store, at work, in my friends pictures on Facebook. It's all good, though. Soon enough, I'll have a baby and everyone else who wants one will be noticing mine.

A disagreement

It wasn't even so much as a disagreement, more like a surprising difference of opinion between two people who generally agree on everything.

James and I were having our daily download--you know, when you and your mate go through all the ridiculous things everyone else said or did that day and remind each other that you are surely the only normal people alive--when the topic of finding out the sex of a baby came up. (Hey, everyone we know is either pregnant right now, just had a baby like, this week, or already has kids, so these things come up.) So, I mention that I think it's really cool when people choose to NOT find out the sex until birth. James looks at me and says, "You wouldn't want to know what you're having?" Uh oh. Discord. This is so rare, what do I do? How can he not be in complete agreement with me? So, I revert back to my days of debate club (don't laugh) and start in on him. "Tell me why you think you need to know the sex?" and "They have unisex baby stuff, you know." and "It would be the most awesome surprise ever!" and "Think about HOW MUCH MORE AMAZING AND EXCITING the birth would be?!"

And he agreed.

It's On

Today, I took my last birth control pill. Tomorrow, we officially begin the "we're trying to have a baby" stage of our lives. It's strange, but in a good way of course. I have been on the pill for, like, ever. I have never missed a pill, never gone off and gotten back on. I have never tried to have a baby before, never even had a pregnancy scare.

The decision to have a baby was an easy one. The decision of when to have a baby was a bit more difficult. James and I always knew we wanted to be parents, but there are certain things in life that we wanted to accomplish and other things that needed to be "in order," like jobs and finances. While I don't think you can ever be completely financially ready for a baby, it was important to us that we have some security in that area. We've been talking about a baby for a year or so, and agreed that 2009 was the year we would start trying. The plan was, we would hike the Grand Canyon, then get down to business. Well, the Grand Canyon trip was canceled (postponed?), and we took a cruise instead. And now here we are.

How long will it take for me to get pregnant? Will it be easy? Could I be infertile? Who knows. What I do know is that this will be a journey like none we have ever taken before. Stay tuned!