Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Mommy Dearest

I've been thinking a lot about my mom recently.  She's pretty fantastic, and is always there for me no matter what I need or what's going on.  We have this weird connection, and even though we are 163 miles away from each other at any given time, we know what each other is feeling.  Kind of creepy, actually...

But anyway, I wanted to celebrate all the little things about my mom that I just adore, and which most of my friends love and find charming.  In no particular order:

1)She has this love of board games.  And card games.  And really anything that gets a bunch of people together to have a good time.  This brings so much joy to hear heart and life that without fail, every time, something will strike her as funny and throw her into a fit of laughter that brings on tears and inability to sit still in a chair or breathe.  FOR. HOURS.  You can't help but get caught up in the ridiculousness of it all!

2) The woman is so skinny, yet can eat sweets and cookies, and cakes, and all things au gratin, and fried, and McDonald's and Burger King, and it drives me crazy!  She is known for her chocolate chip cookies, little treats that can bring happiness to any cold dark soul.  At no time during my child hood was the cookie jar empty.  And for this... I owe her my curves that never go away.

3) She loves snacks.  Everywhere you go, no matter what you are doing, there is always time for snacks.  Oh, it's Christmas and we just ate a huge breakfast and are now on our way to Grandma's house for appetizers and Christmas dinner?? We should probably grab a can of soda, a bottle of water and at least some pretzels and Christmas cookies.  "Snacks anyone?" 5 minutes into the 25 minute drive.  Really?  Or we have just had lunch, it's been maybe an hour or so.  "Snacks?"  Not enough to ruin our dinner, but I mean really.  We should probably eat again.  Here, let me heat up some cheese stuffed pretzels, or jalapeno poppers.  Veggies and dip?  Cheese and crackers?  Let's not choose.  I'll just make them all and you can just sit here and munch on them.  Her new favorite is cheesy bread made with ranch dressing.  Awesome.  My curves continue to thank you.

4) She is super sentimental.  This is where I get my sensitivity from.  She is so concerned for everyone.  And I really don't mean just the people in her life, or people that she knows well, or just her family.  I literally mean EVERYONE.  Every time I introduce myself as "Vicki's daughter" it's all "oooooh, she's such a nice lady!  We just love her cookies!"  I know.  Trust me.  I know.

5) She cries at movies.  Even movies you're not supposed to cry at, she finds something sentimental about it and cries.  Like the Sixth Sense.  Not really a weepy movie.  She was crying all over the place at the end when Brucy finds out he's dead, and creepy kid's mom finds out he's seeing dead people.  Sorry if I just ruined the ending for you.

6) She's kind of neurotic.  She's a control freak, much like your truly.  We need to do everything we can to make things go the way they should.  Or at least the way WE think they should.  But that generally means overstepping boundaries.  My sister is 21 years old and my mom still feels like she needs to remind her to shower, to set her alarm, and go to work.  Granted, my sister is not the most self-sufficient person on the planet, but  still.  I will get phone calls every 3 days, and the message left generally sounds something like this:

           "Connie.  It's your mother.  I haven't heard from you in 3 days.  If I don't hear back from you this evening, I'm calling the cops up there and having them come check on you."

Ah yes, just what the 108th Precinct wants to do.  They hate me enough already.  (Story will be told in a future posting.  Today is Mommy's day.)

7) She's a really terrible driver.  In a recent visit, she scared the Bejeezes out of the DJ.  Upon getting into the car her first comment was "I'm not very good at this..." Oh. Damn.  We're flying over hills, nearly bottoming out at the bottom, and thank god she knows how to turn into a skid...  It's like Nascar on crack!  We arrive at our destination and she pulls into a parking spot.  The DJ and I jump out of the car, only to see she is neither in the middle of the spot, and has actually pulled half way through said spot.  Her response?  "I'm not great at parking either..." oooooooooh mommy...

8) My mom hasn't had the easiest life.  She's been divorced twice and married 3 times (This last one's a keeper... promise!).  She put herself through night school and came out with a Paralegal Degree.  Since then has stuck it out at a job that hasn't always appreciated her and came out on top making a great salary, doing great work for a great cause.  She's raised two daughters really well, even if one doesn't always take.  (Not me, I'm the good kid.  Hello?  LOOK at me!)  She's a good Christian... she even does it right when she messes up which is impressive.  Given everything, through all of her quirks, I really admire my mom.   I think she's pretty fantastic, and she's done a hell of a job at building herself a great life!

This posting could go on for days.  My mom is just so cool!  But I wanted to give her a little thanks for being just that cool, for accepting everything I do even if it's not the path she wants for me, and backing me up.... and also for opening my eyes when I'm actually wrong... that 1 time.

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