Saturday, March 13, 2010

Baby Steps

Where are my, "What About Bob?" fans? When we were little, if my sister and I liked a movie it went into hardcore frequent rotation at our house. We loved, "What About Bob?"

And "Dirty Dancing".

And "Haunted Honeymoon"

And "Money Pit"

And "Back to the Future"

I can still quote these movies. So if you are a fan of "What About Bob?" then you know all about Baby Steps the book. (For those who are not familiar with the movie, the concept is focus on one step at a time. Don't get overwhelmed.)

Before this last IVF attempt I had "big plans" for my child free life. I had fleshed out these "big plans" so much that I fully expected that if the cycle failed I was poised like a cat, ready to pounce. I fully expected to go into "big plan" activation mode.

But I have not been pouncing. I haven't been activating. Instead I've been baby stepping. (I'll spare you the obvious comments about the irony of baby stepping without any chance of an actual baby in the future.)

That brings me to today's baby step. Generally my level of depression is directly proportional to the length of my leg hair. Judging by the looks of my legs, I have been in quite a funk. I had not shaved my legs since my last cycle. And my attempts at shaving during my last cycle were half hearted at best; just enough grooming so as not to be a topic of conversation with the nurses.

But today I am leg hair free! And as I sat in the bathtub shaving my legs I felt good. I felt better. I started thinking about all the other things I could do today. I could pack up my second set of china and send it to storage. I could clean out the closets for the open house tomorrow. I could get back into my sewing room. I could go to the mall and buy some new cardigans to replace the worn ones I've been wearing lately. I could go to Target and buy some sea monkeys*.

But I didn't do any of that stuff. I just shaved my legs. Well, that and pulled out some empty boxes in an attempt to start packing.

Oh well, baby steps. I wonder what I'll do tomorrow?

*My new best friend at work has this sea monkey kit and I want to get one!

21 comments:

Amber said...

My husband would consider shaving my legs a huge step, since it only happens once every 2-3 months. :) Sounds like you're off to a great start!

ASP said...

That's a great first step. Shaving your legs always leads to bigger and better things for sure! I shaved my legs last week because I was afraid that the u/s tech would think that I had a man-gina went I went in for my baseline. You know the hairy legs might not have looked so great up on the table.

Anyway, I hope you make it to Target to get those sea monkeys. And I'm happy you have a new best friend at work! ;)

Thanks for the kind words over at my bloggy blog. You hit the nail on the head with the last comment. Thanks for the support. ♥

Anonymous said...

Hey Babysteps is great - we all have to start somewhere! What About Bob - a kick ass movie and the others you listed are too, such good taste you have!

And hey shaving your legs can be a mighty achievement, I think at least once a month how I'd love to be a amazon chick and just not shave! LOL

Now go get them monkeys!!

xxx

tishi said...

I loved "what about bob?"

areyoukiddingme said...

I have never been able to get through all of What About Bob...

I haven't been interested in shaving my legs lately either. And then last weekend, my husband opened the oven door and I walked right into it, so the huge scab on my leg means it will be a while before I get around to it.

Baby steps are a good way to go. Some things require a big plan (band-aid ripping), but some things require baby steps.

Anonymous said...

It's amazing the difference a set of shaved legs can make to one's psyche.

lastchanceivf said...

It's all about baby steps, this healing process. And I hate to use the word 'healing'...but I can't think of any other word.

At any rate, I adore the Money Pit and of course Dirty Dancing, but strangely, I have never seen What About Bob.... but suddenly I'm craving some Money Pit.

Hang in there, and congrats on the smooth legs!

Anonymous said...

Hey, even baby steps are steps in the right direction :)

Well done you! Keep it up, a little every day :)

Glad to hear you feel a bit better :)

xxx

Anonymous said...

I love What About Bob! It's all about the baby steps.

Anonymous said...

I remember all of those movies. I think that we're all taking Baby Steps.

Kore said...

Just don't try death therapy, please. It's really not a guaranteed cure. :)

Mrs. Chapman's 2nd Grade Class said...

Shaving your legs is a pretty big step in my book! I love that movie too. Bob was hillarious!

Anonymous said...

Love Bob. Now I am craving it - we just watched Groundhog Day (another fab Bill Murray).

I love your comment about leg hair and depression - OMG they ought to lock me up! But since I'm not cycling I just can't get up the interest (my poor husband). I am pathetic, and I'm really impressed by your baby step!

Alex said...

So proud of you for shaving your legs - sometimes you have to celebrate the little things in life!

irrationalexuberance said...

I love the idea of baby steps -- it breaks the seemingly insurmoutable world down into bite sized packages.

You should live your life at the pace you are happy with -- no one is measuring or judging you, and I think that shaving was a great place to start!

Libby said...

I had forgotten about Bob! I had a psych prof who had our class watch it during senior year. I knew I liked her for some reason. Have you seen Bill Murray in Zombieland? My DH's pick, but it definitely kept my mind off all things IF - at least for a couple of hours.

Good for you for taking baby steps!

Meg. said...

You are truly making Baby Steps, and I'll bet you didn't even need to wear your pet goldfish around your neck in the process. *hugs*

This is so hard. Every little bit of progress you make should be celebrated. If that progress comes in the form of a nice, smooth shave, it is still a step in a positive direction.

And God DAMN, I love me some Sea Monkeys! Did you know there's a kit that comes with a watch into which you can squirt your Monkeys and wear them on your wrist??? (Or would that be a Baby Step backwards?)

Fashions said...

nice day!
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Anonymous said...

ha ha, it was like that at our house, too. mostly b/c we had hbo and cinamax and that was when they would show one movie continuously for like a month. we watched shag, splash, big, my cousin vinny, etc like it was going out of style! to this day i still impress my friends with my crazy ability to pull out movie quotes from totally random movies.

"TWO WEEKS!!" :)

xx

Jendeis said...

Late to the party, but just wanted to say that my fave part of What About Bob was not Baby Steps, but instead, Bomb Therapy. :)

Ditto on The Money Pit and Back to the Future. You are truly one of my peeps.

Anonymous said...

Tomorrow's baby step could be to tie yourself to a sailboat and scream 'I'm saaailling' into the wind!'. I think the screaming part would feel good.

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