Public anonymity.

*Edited... You guys are so sweet. Or, I need to proofread. I found a couple pretty decent errors in my post (one which made an entire sentence make no sense at all) yet no one says a word about it. Are you just that used to me rambling incoherently? Don't answer that.*

Above is a picture of my beautiful girl last week at the splash park. I just love this picture. I think it just sums up so much of my daughter. That huge smile that is so contagious; her energy (oh my! her energy); her endless supply of fun.

Funny that today, only a week later, we were dealing with the first thunderstorm I can remember in ages, and overcast skies that never reveal the sun hiding behind them.

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I had a photography gig this Monday. This was my third for a friend of mine that is a real estate agent. It was an amazing house that is selling for $1.5 million. Probably not so coincidentally, this is also the first photography job I've had that has required my climbing over 4 foot wrought-iron fences while simultaneously watching my back for predatory animals and breaking trespassing laws. A good time was had by all.

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Now I'm not sure you've actually ever paid much attention, but my kids' names are actually not Mike & Ike. Therefore, it's probably safe for you to assume my sweet husband's name is not Big Hunk (though it most certainly is his title).

So in an attempt to give you a whole heck of a lotta information that no more than zero of my readers have asked for, I wanted to give a little background to this little code game I have going on here.

First of all, it is not to get away from the crazies, let me say that. Heck, I'm married to the crazies so there isn't any escaping. Okay, let me rephrase that. It's not because of the unknown crazies.

Well, it's kind of hard to believe, but Big Hunk did survive a period in his life without me (I know! How?!). Even more appalling, he was married to someone else. You may have gathered that I have two stepsons... you seeing a pattern? While I was off being like 13 and daydreaming about Kriss Kross and watching Ren & Stimpy, Big Hunk was busy being married and having babies. And being much older, in case you didn't catch that (or thought that he was married and had babies while he was 13 too.) (Yuck.)

So anyway, I forgive him. He repented of his ways and learned that there is no living without me. That he is the Jerry Maguire to my Dorothy Whatshername.

Do you love how long it takes me to get to my point? I can guarantee your kids suddenly found the cure to cancer* in the time it takes me to spit it out.

So Big Hunk's ex-wife is the sweetest woman ever. And by sweetest I mean she wants to make our life a living hell. Then point and laugh. Then make us watch Gold for Cash commercials.

In other words, torture in the highest degree.

So any amount of anonymity I can find us means just a little more sanity. If I can take just a couple steps to not inviting her into the day-to-day of our lives, the happier we all are.

And that's the long-winded version of why I named my children after a yummy rainbow candy, and my husband after... Ah, who am I kidding. That's really his name.

*not really.