sixth new thing...

wow. two blog posts in one day. we must be on a role...i mean roll. let's continue the journey through the 52 new things. this week, the sixth of the new things holds a special place in my heart and ended up marking a more meaningful milestone than i initially thought it would. on february 9th, i babysat a newborn. on my own. alone. for several hours.

this is megan, my charge for the evening. isn't she adorbale? megan was born on november 14th here in the ATL, brought into the world trough a slice and dice rather than a push and pull. congrats/condolences, as they say. according to ivilliage, megan marie is very emotionally perceptive, picking up on what is unspoken and speaking the languages of gestures. uhhh, duh. she's a baby. if she busted out with stewie-esque language at this juncture, i would be truly concerned for our future. also, apparently megan is deep, mysterious and magnetically attractive. huh. magnetically attractive. perhaps that's why she is always stuck to mom. or dad. or one of the multitude of admirers who wanna do nothing but hold her. good luck with this one guys.

so megan and i planned to spend a lovely evening together introducing her to the most famous of german poets and discussing the finer points of the 2004 broadway season verses the the 1996 broadway season. we started our journey by witnessing a last second win by the vanderbilt men's basketball team over the south carolina gamecocks. when byers' hit that floater shot, megan began to cry. i feared she might be a closeted usc fan. this might not end well. pressing on, we bopped our way through one of my favorite films from my youth and possibly the most unheralded accomplishment of the film career of the truly multi-talented actress angela lansbury: bedknobs and broomsticks. this movie put megan to sleep. so far, i am unimpressed. the evening ended with her crying for 45 minutes while who framed roger rabbit played in the background, the cat trying to lacerate my achilles-- thus making me immobile-- and finally, peace as megan drifted off to sleep again to the whiny and unfortunate kate and leopold. well, maybe there is some hope for this kid after all.

i truly enjoyed my alone time with megan. i honestly had forgotten what it was like to be that close to another human being. it had been a while. i hope it isn't that long again.

*ps* why was this new thing so much more meaningful than i thought? because, unbeknownst to me on the evening that i bonded with megan, my best friend from college was doing some baby bonding of her own. jen and tim getsay welcomed their first son, benjamin, on february 9th. the first to make me an "aunt". much love to the getsay's and karpinkski's on the arrival of this little bundle of joy. welcome to the world little one. i can't wait to meet you.