What Will Keep Me Happy This Week

On Friday I learned that my social security number had been compromised, my road-trip plans with Irene were thwarted by vandals and that I didn't get a prestigious grant for which I had applied. And then two literary journals declined my stories over the weekend.

Let me tell you- this weekend had all the makings of a Bad Decision Smorgasbord: booty-calling an ex or two, eating some McDonald's (which I haven't done in years!) and canceling my writing life altogether. Good thing my girls were home this weekend, because instead I went food shopping, finally picked out a dress for Cathi's impending nuptials and other random chore-like things.

It was a struggle to stay positive (especially because I had to leave the house with a naked face on Sunday to get the perfect shade of foundation at Sephora, and I try to never leave the house with a naked face anymore) but I must say, an unexpected thing kept me in high spirits: when my long-time friends call me Rocky.

Not to dismiss the people I've met since 2006 when I moved into my own place, but when someone I knew in high school or college touches base with me and calls me Rocky, I'm transported back to the time when I was that girl, the one I'm just getting back to. For a while there I was Raquel or Ms. Penzo and I hated it. It was too formal and grown up and I'm too playful for all that. I was Rocky from third grade on and then all of a sudden, that girl disappeared. It was sad.

Today, I see signs of that girl again. She looks older and more tired than I recall, but she wasn't getting much sleep back then so I'm not surprised. Still, I see her. And it feels amazing!

That's enough to put a smile on my face well into Saturday.

*smooches...plotting to freeze your underwear when you fall asleep*
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don't ask why; I just felt like it