When I announced that I was pregnant, and how far along I was, my mother (professional accountant and comptroller with no off switch) did a little quick math and came out with "while we were all traveling in Mexico together? How?" I just blushed, and my husband mumbled "while you guys were at the gym." Every family…

Wow - it sounds like you had a lot to get out from under, and I'm really glad you did. Hopefully the same will be true of your aunt in the future. Must be surreal to watch her go through this from the other side of the looking glass, so to speak. I can understand that feeling of "everything will be so much better if I…

I lol'd too, until I was like "wait a minute."

For a second, I thought it was "Nadya" backwards, and I assumed it was a clever inversion of his birth name. Then I remembered spelling, and was like "huh?" Reminds me of a great number of the names on cubbies at my child's super granola Montessori school. But still. Yum.

Gotcha - I was reading an analysis recently of the costs families incur when a relative has a psychosomatic condition or a pathology that defies conventional diagnosis. Some really tragic examples of families being bankrupted for ER visits that went nowhere and scans that showed nothing. We're in Canada, so anything…

My husband's cousin is trans, and has a much, much better beard than my husband. It comes up at every single family event, always, forever. A recent burn from the cousin in question: "I mean in fairness, cuz, your wife could grow a better beard than you." And here I thought my tweezing game was tight :-(

God, that sounds awful - I'm so sorry that you experienced it. I think about the lengths I will go to when a bit of popcorn kernel shell gets stuck under my gums, and, yeah... I could see how you could seriously disfigure yourself trying to dislodge or free something you believed to be under your skin. Was there a…

Ouf. Not "real," but real. Does it cost your family a ton in hospital bills every time she goes to the ER? Are there coverage issues because she doesn't technically need treatment for physical symptoms?

Yes, thank you! The oxygen mask analogy is antithetical to the "put the other person first" philosophy that married couples lie about having.

Yeah, Kelly, you just call me if you ever have another baby, k? We have a recurring "sex, finally" in our shared Google calendar until our kids are in college. With pop up reminders.

If you don't mind, how is the intrinsic ick-factor that seems to exist for some caregivers towards their residents' sex lives being addressed? When my grandmother was in an LTC at the end of her life, some of the staff very clearly had a hard time contemplating the idea of a sexual life for any of their charges, and…

I think a lot of loved ones of nursing home residents would also say that the advice they get from the home is just as much about minimizing the facility's liability and making their work easier as it is about what's in the resident's best interest. I'm not sure if there's any hard data on this, but my family's…

Your Mom sounds like a great caregiver. As someone who has had a lot of beloved family members move through assisted living facilities in the past 3 years, I would have been happy to see more like her. The NYT piece explores the idea of children's discomfort with aging parents sexuality in greater detail, and notes…

I feel you so hard. I hesitate to say anything, because my workplace is historically quite hierarchy conscious and I don't want to seem like I'm perpetuating that because I'm "talent" and she's "support" (nevermind that I used to do her job as a foot in the door and I recognize that it requires considerable skill and…

Sometimes, when I think today is the day I'm going to go nuclear on my shared assistant, she surprises me with a next-level breakfast sandwich from the place up the street, and I'm like "Oh, you..." {disgusting, animal eating noises}

My mother in law makes these! She seems to instinctively know when she needs to get on this to keep me from murdering her, too. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Yep. I read the Times piece this morning, and the only truly coherent thought I could muster was an abiding sadness and sympathy for everyone involved.

I'm about to out myself as a mid-Ontario basic, but it was "Fiddler's Green" by the Tragically Hip. It was one of maybe 10 songs I knew on the guitar, and I was proud that I knew how to hit the harmonic, which I deemed "fancy." In fairness (to me), I was about 20 at the time...

Yeah, I deffo believe the John Mayer bit. My very Christian, very reserved girlfriend was a super-fan of his since pre-Body is a Wonderland days. Her super-fan status accorded us backstage passes when he opened for alleged poop enthusiast Dave Matthews in our town. He was attentive and appreciative of "all the fan…

Who would be your picks, though? I kept thinking of Malese Jow, but probably just because I don't know that many Chinese-American actresses who would be the right age.