Best and worst of the week. How's your week been?

Happy Friday and welcome to one of our favourite posts of the week – best & worst. It’s time to reflect on what’s happened during your week – the good, the bad and the in-between. There are no “rules” – just join in and tell us about your highs and lows.

Remember that if you want a chance to host best and worst, email info@mamamia.com.au with your full name, headshot and a short bio (include any links to your blog/Twitter etc), and we’ll take it from there.

Introducing Lara…

Worst: Being proved wrong by a 10 month old child.  My baby son is the youngest of three, following two cautiously raised girls. From the moment the ultrasound indicated blue skies ahead, people started warning me that boys are different.  “Pfft!” said I.  “I laugh in the face of your naïve gender distinctions!”   And then he ate a huntsman spider.  Oh yes he did.  And then he spent 24 hours with an inexplicably swollen ear that made him look like a baby-faced boxer.  And then he bit his tongue through the night, causing me to age five years when I woke to a blood-soaked cot.  And yes, this was all in the past week.  I concede defeat; boys are different.   Or, at least, my son is different from my daughters.  I can only pray that eventually he uses his ebullience and curiosity for good rather than evil; or that we can get a tidy TV deal for our version of Boy vs Wild.

Best: My 20 year school reunion.  Not the reunion as such, since that happened ages ago and left me feeling a bit weirded out, if I’m honest, despite careful planning and the requisite  pre-reunion therapy.  No, it’s the legacy of said event that has made me happy this week, including renewed friendships with some very inspiring individuals.  A group of us, who were never in the same ‘gang’ at school, has discovered that as thirty-something workers, parents, partners, wise souls and lost souls, we have a lot to offer each other.  We mostly chatter online, and I can guarantee that if, for example, my son eats a large, hairy spider, I can vent my irrational (though in this case, I think, forgivable) concerns to a kind set of ears that won’t judge me. Well, not to my face at least.  How curious it is that the newest technology can facilitate the oldest kind of cup-of-tea-over-the-back-fence conversations?

OMM (On My Mind): “Life has no remote control. Get up and change it yourself”.  I have no idea who first said this, but it amuses me that the tone is a more ‘boot camp’ than ‘chicken soup’ for the soul. Sometimes I think I need that.

Dr Lara Cain Gray is an academic, writer, librarian, curator and mother. The order depends on the day. Whenever she can she blogs here, tweets here and Facebooks (is that a verb?) here.

What were your best and worst bits of the week?