Happy Mother’s Day and why I feel like a heel May 7, 2011

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. Wow, it got here fast. In fact, it snuck up on me, caught me unaware and unprepared. In truth, I have loads of viable excuses but come on, we’re talking about Mother’s Day. I could have and should have done better.

My mom reads this blog and I know that she knows how much I love her, how much she means to me. She knows this because we have a mushy (and forgiving!) family. We hug and laugh and love to the extreme. Out loud. For the world to see. She knows. But still, it’s Mother’s Day.

Mom, in her interminable style and grace, has given me (another) pass. She allowed me to postpone our Mother’s Day celebration. My mother and I will not celebrate Mother’s Day tomorrow. Because we live in different states, we will celebrate in a few weeks, when we can be together. I can’t wait to see her.

Here’s an excerpt from a lighthearted Mother’s Day poem I wrote last year:

Mom finds humor every day
Her laughter fills the air
Family time was joyous
We didn’t have a care   read more…

I posted this on Facebook today and want to post it here too:

This pic is of Mom & Dad when they were in the hospital having me. Look how young they were! Mom, I'm posting this in honor of Mother's Day. I love you.

Guess what mom’s comment was. When she saw the post she wrote: Was I ever that young and that small? And just think… we brought home the prize!

What a sweetie. Happy Mother’s Day Mom!

(Mea maxima culpa. I hope my brother and/or my sister have my back tomorrow!)

U2’s (re)Unification Song: One April 25, 2011

U2. Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. comprise one of the best and longest-running rock bands of our time. U2 joined together in 1976. As with all long-term commitments, however, the band hit a rough patch while recording Achtung Baby. Creative difference ran so high, the band considered breaking up.

In the recording studio, The Edge was improvising on his guitar and came up with a chord progression that caught the band’s attemtion. The guys joined in and spontaneously composed One. Bono wrote the lyrics, and although the message is interpreted a variety of ways, the song was undeniably inspired by the band’s splintering relationship.

So this U-day on the A-Z Blogging Challenge is dedicated to U2. And unification. I celebrate the fact that U2 worked out their differences and continue to bring the world brilliant and relevant music.

One is U2’s (re)Unification Song. Here you go:

You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can’t be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life

What’s your favorite U2 song?

Sources: YouTube, Wikipedia, lyrics007

Super Siblings: I Won the Sweepstakes April 22, 2011

It’s true. I won the siblings sweepstakes. My brother and my sister are exceptional people. If they weren’t in my family, I’d still want to hang out with them. The three of us are wildly different but it works seamlessly. We all have our strengths, our ‘position’ within the familial unit. Birth order probably has something to do with the harmony, but so does personality. We just fit together. It makes sense.

It’s hard for me to summarize my relationship with my brother and my sister in a single post. In fact, I could write for days and not clearly communicate the depth of my respect and love for both of them. So I’m taking the easy road. I’ll let other, more articulate people speak for me. Here are some of my favorite quotes about siblings:

A sibling may be the keeper of one’s identity, the only person with the keys to one’s unfettered, more fundamental self.  ~Marian Sandmaier

We know one another’s faults, virtues, catastrophes, mortifications, triumphs, rivalries, desires, and how long we can each hang by our hands to a bar.  We have been banded together under pack codes and tribal laws.  ~Rose Macaulay

I don’t believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers.  It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage.  Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.  ~Maya Angelou

To the outside world we all grow old.  But not to brothers and sisters.  We know each other as we always were.  We know each other’s hearts.  We share private family jokes.  We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.  We live outside the touch of time.  ~Clara Ortega

Sibling relationships – and 80 percent of Americans have at least one – outlast marriages, survive the death of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship.  They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth, loyalty and distrust.  ~Erica E. Goode, “The Secret World of Siblings,” U.S. News & World Report, 10 January 1994

Popsicles and Baby Pools April 19, 2011

When I was a kid we didn’t have much money. But kids don’t know that. There is an age where you don’t think about what you have versus what others have. I had everything I wanted. I had unlimited popsicles and a baby pool. And I loved popsicles.

My mom used to make red kool-aid popsicles. Inexpensive and delicious, she poured red kool-aid into paper dixie cups and let them half-freeze. Then, when the consistency was firm enough to hold a stick upright, she’d lovingly place a stick in the middle of each popsicle and let them freeze solid. A blowup kiddie pool is the perfect place to eat red kool-aid popsicles. It doesn’t matter how fast the popsicle melts or how messy you are.

Simple pleasures are the best.

I have fond childhood memories of splashing in the blowup kiddie pool slurping quickly melting red kool-aid popsicles. So for the A-Z Blogging Challenge my P-word is popsicles. Yum!

A is for Absent / B is for Birthday April 3, 2011

In an effort to catch up on the A – Z Blog Challenge I’m combining A & B into one post on this blog. To further stretch the rules, I’m doing this combo-post on the wrong day. It’s a good thing the A – Z  challenge doesn’t have strict rules or I’d be kicked out for sure. In any case, the A & B combo-post will explain…

I was Absent on the A day because we went to my dad’s 75th Birthday party. Because we had to travel to get to his party, I was also Absent on the B day.

My family congregated in Charlotte for the festivities and we all had a big time. It strikes me that this is the second post I’ve written about family festivities and birthday parties. 2 out of 6. In case you are wondering, yeah, we like to celebrate. As a family, we’re always looking for a reason to get together and lift a glass. Hey, maybe that will be my C post – about celebrations! It’s hard to believe my dad is 75. He is a perennial child, in a good way. As I look back on some of my poems and articles it’s interesting to note how many times I’ve written about my dad. I’m going to link 2 of my favorites in case you want to know more about him.

On Being Raised by a Boy Scout

A Father’s Day Poem for Dad

I am blogging for the A – Z challenge on my Langley Writes about Writing blog, which is on Blogger. Since I know how to schedule posts there, I’m in compliance. Here on WordPress, I have no idea. We all know I’m a blogging newbie. One of the reasons I signed up for this challenge is to learn more about blogging in general. Maybe I’ll learn how to schedule a post here too, before this is all over! Let’s raise a glass to wishing!

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!