Would you still love me if I put a Taylor Swift quotation in the title?

Dear World,

     I've finally decided that I'm just going to do it. I'm going to write about being a mom and cooking things and whatever, and if it's not edgy enough for some people, then they don't need to read it. Because, as much as I am kind of to that age where I'm not effervescent and giggly, I'm also to that age where I'm pretty damn good at some things. Mom things. So there's that. And I kind of felt weird when I wrote that post about orgasms like two years ago. So there's that too.
     I have a whole summer ahead of me. I've gotten asked so many times, "What are you going to do this summer?". My answer is typically some random cacophony about relaxation, and then I turn the conversation back into the other direction, because the other person is inevitable going somewhere exotic or having baby #7 or climbing Mt. Everest or something. But, in typical "me" fashion, my summer is filled with odd and strangely academic pursuits that are only interesting to me and to the odd-center folks I surround myself with.
     Back when I was young and had no dependents, I would assign myself one topic for an entire year. I would study that one topic every chance I got. This really had no observable position effect, but it did make me really good at Jeopardy (sometimes). One year I studied Sylvia Plath, and one year the Harlem Renaissance. For one whole year, I found out everything that I could about Picasso. One year I tackled religion. This wasn't exactly BEFORE the internet, but it was back when the internet was just computer nerds and really, really crude porn, so I did a lot of my research in actual libraries with actual books.
     So, fast forward to this summer. My kid is 5, and I was faced with the fact that I would need to entertain him for the entire summer. So, nerd-me came up with the idea that the kid and I would pick a topic and research the hell out of it. All summer.
     I asked the kid what he would like to research. I had kind of assumed that he would say "chemistry" or "the meaning of life" or "centipedes" or something, and I was down for that. I had just done some research on black holes, and I could see that really enriching his experience as he entered 1st grade. So, after my query, he scrunched his face up, concentrating on all those topics flying through his brain. I'm sure he thought about tons of scientific ideas, or maybe some literature-based ones. He probably considered learning a new language. I'd always wanted to learn Turkish, so we could study together. I leaned forward, ready to hear what our Summer Topic would be.
      This is when Alex smiled widely and proclaimed that we would be researching...
      Bigfoot.
      It took me a second, but I started to get kind of excited about the idea of learning all about Bigfoot. It wouldn't win a Nobel prize any day, but we needed to start somewhere. So Alex and I made a huge list of activities and crafts that we could do that involved Bigfoot. Then we went to the library and got a few kids' books about Bigfoot and read them.
       This summer, then, this blog will be about Alex and I and the Summer of Bigfoot. We're excited to study this mythical monster. Tomorrow, we'll be making Bigfoot puppets and putting on a puppet show. Alex has requested that we make one human whom the Bigfoots capture and eat (yay 5 year old boy) but I reminded him that Bigfoots are said to eat nuts and berries. Hopefully we can come up with something fun!