Saying goodbye

When I was 14, I acquired a second set of parents. Laura and I were beginning to spend a lot of time together, as teenagers do, so she got VonMom and VonDad, and I got Ma and Pa added to my life. I also acquired Sarah (I'd always been curious about what it was like to have a little sister). I couldn't have been luckier. It's hard enough to be a teenager, but one with pretty much four parents? That was me and Laura. It went like this: If I got bad grades, no problem, I got no phone usage, no going out on weeknights - well, that curbed Laura's phone usage and weeknight social life almost exactly. If Laura blew curfew? Well, I was in trouble too. Who else was I going to go out with? Besides, who had the driver's license in high school? Yep - Laura. For as awesome as he is now, VonDad was a hardass when I was a teenager. Granted, thank God he was, but still. Ma was also a tough cookie. VonMom was pretty much the 'whatever doesn't kill them makes them stronger' type, which was pretty cool. Pa? Well *grin* Pa was the awesome one. Pa was a cop, so his hours weren't your typical 9 to 5. Therefore, we spent a lot of time with him during the summers. Laura, Sarah and I would lay around in the pool that was always somehow ready and waiting when summer was just around the corner. Pa would go to Subway, or to get ice cream. It didn't take long before he knew exactly what my order would be, just like he knew his daughters'. One year when he worked some event that the President and First Lady were around, he brought home these really cool tshirts. They had POTUS and FLOTUS on them (which at the time I thought was so super cool) and I remember specifically he didn't bring home just two, there were a few extras, he gave me one right away. I think I still have it somewhere, because it's one of those memories. I've already shared the Medusa's story, and the chuckle and the shaking of his head are such a reflection of how he looked at Laura and I. Again, it was absolutely a "those girls" kind of thing. It was, is endearing. Over the years, as time goes, the time we spent with our parents lessened. Laura has a family, I have my stuff. I still looked forward to every opportunity I had to spend time with Ma and Pa. They even have their very own nickname for me. It would be silly from anyone else, but from them, it's got meaning. Sorry, it's entirely theirs' and I won't be sharing it here. I know he used it every time he saw me. We had an on-going joke, he and I. Laura and I actually grew up in two different neighborhoods. They were next to each other, and we lived only blocks apart. However, to go to Laura's I had to walk under a set of train tracks. The joke was that we each said the other lived on the 'wrong side of the tracks'. My parents' neighborhood is a little odd, and they have this cookbook, and Christmas decorating awards, and green thumb awards, all of which Pa thought was hilarious. So, me being me? OF course I gave him a cookbook one year for Christmas. Another year I drafted a fake letter from my parents' neighborhoods community club stating that even though he lived on the other side of the tracks they were giving him an honorary Christmas decorating ribbon. He thought it was so funny. Sometimes when he laughed, he had to wipe his eyes from the tears. He had a great laugh. He always treated me like a daughter. I remember one night I was on a date. I was pretty young, and I was out with a guy my parents didn't approve of. So, I lied to my parents and told them I was with Laura, when I was really at the movies with A. Well, neither A nor I had a driver's license, so we had taken the bus to dinner and a movie. Of course, the bus had stopped running some time before we were heading home. Shit. And this was before the time of cell phones people! So, I got all scared and worried. A was useless. He just sat there smoking his Marlboro reds. I swallowed my fear and called Laura. Who ended up picking us up? Pa. He pulled up. I was pretty scared. He drove A home in silence. He shot me one of those looks, a dad look, but he never said anything. And, he never told my parents. I was so grateful for that. I'd gotten used to napping with Ma and Pa on Christmas day. Every year for 20 years I've gone to their house for dinner. For the past however many years, Laura has done double duty with her in-laws, so I usually had some down time with her parents. So, yep, a few times we just moved from dining room to living room and we'd all drift off. After a while we'd wake up, chuckle a little, and get ready for Laura to come back or for dessert time to get under way. That's a comfort level that only comes from lifelong friendships, and love. I could go on and on about what a great man Christian Michal was, but I won't do that. I know that in the next two days I will have to say goodbye to him, and I won't hear his standard "Ok sweetheart. You take care. Say hi to your parents. Stop by anytime." I'm a better person for having known him, and having him in my life. I think he knew that I loved him, I take comfort in that. Truth be told, he's always been one of my favorite people. May angels lead you in, Pa. I'm going to miss you.

Sad and nothing but

I have a post to write. One that I've known was coming, even one that I've been formulating in my head for the past month. But for now to be the time? No, I'm not ready. Who is ever ready when someone you love dies? Not me. A great man passed away today. Someone I've known damn near 20 years. More than 1/2 my life. Laura's dad passed away today. Devastated might begin to cover it, but not really. I have so much to say about him. I really do. But not today.

Total cop out.

My weekend. In pictures. Lame, and a cop out. Alas, today I am a busy girl. Bigger and better posts down the road.

Friday

It's been one hell of a roller coaster week. I'm so glad it's Friday, I can't even express how much. I need to rest and recharge in regards to everything. First there was bad news, then less bad news, then semi-ok news. Sigh. We can only hope for not so bad news. My fingers stay crossed for good news for the people I love. Work was crazy busy. Crazy busy - which is a great great thing. I'm not complaining about that at all. Yesterday was one of those days that I thrive in. I was busy busy go-go-going all day long. I loved it! I got a crazy cryptic email from someone who I'm in the process of getting close to. If not for the fact that said person were family, I wouldn't be interested. However, they ARE family, and I'm concerned/interested, so now I have a phone call to make at some point this weekend. Plus VonMom wants the dirt. So, I'll have to make the call, see what's up. Oh, yeah. We have a new governor. He's pretty Rad. RAD, not Rod. God Bless Governor Quinn.

Looking back and smiling

When we were teenagers, Laura and I used to go to this club Medusa's nearly every weekend. We were maybe 16 when we started going there. Medusa's was wonderful. We loved to dance, and the music there was awesome. New Wave, Industrial, all the good stuff from the early 90s. The crowd? While they were our people, we were on the more conservative side of things. I didn't have a driver's license at the time, and I don't think Laura had gotten hers yet. That's the reason her dad drove us there once. ONCE. We were young and blissfully ignorant to how Medusa's and the people that went there would look to Laura's career police officer dad. He drove by - I think we weren't cool with having him drop us off in front - and he saw the fine element that were hanging around outside before going in. Black leather. Mohawks. Chains. Weird piercings. Black lace. Black lip stick. Black eyeliner. "Psssssh." (Laura's dad made some weird noise) Uh oh. That was not a good noise. "You're going THERE?!" He was pointing at the tall big dude with the mohawk. Sigh "Yes." He looked at me, in my blazer and peg rolled jeans smiling hopefully from the back seat. He looked at Laura, in her blazer and peg rolled jeans smiling nervously from the seat next to him. (She was nervous that night because she was the one hiding the cigarettes in her pocket that night.) "Well. Be careful. See you later." He gave us a nervous little chuckle, and his familiar 'those two' shake of his head. But, he let us out of the car. He didn't trust the place, nor did he trust the people. But he trusted us. Even then, that meant something. *** A side note: The big dude with the mohawk? Many years later he would become Laura's husband. To this day I don't think her dad believes that to be true, but it is.

Jersey Boys and Stoopid Chicks

On Saturday Laura and I went to see "Jersey Boys". We got the tickets from Laura's family for Christmas. I was excited about the show, but I didn't think it would be fantastic. It was. FANTASTIC. Our seats weren't the best, we were way up in the balcony, on one side, so we were a little obstructed, but beyond that, the show was fantastic. I even bought the soundtrack. I never buy the soundtrack. Laura and I like to go see at least one musical a year. Being in Chicago, this is something we can easily do. The hard part is picking which show to see. "Jersey Boys" has to be right up on the list. The songs were all great, the performers were outstanding, and the story moved along. However. Sitting just behind us had to be one of the stupidest humans I have ever encountered. She was young (mid-20s). She was cute (of course). But man, was she dumb! The first words out of her mouth that alerted us to her limited IQ were: "Oh! Look! We DO get to sit together! The seats go 1,3,5, stuff! See! I was SO so worried we weren't going to be able to sit together. I was like, God, if we can't sit together, that would suck! Blah! Blah! Blah!" She proceeded to sit down and sing -HORRIBLY- some of the lyrics to some of the songs listed in the playbill. Of course, she even got some of them wrong. Laura, who is historically the nicer of the two of us, even looked at me with this awe/horror/incredulous look. After a few minutes of listening to DingDongDipshit, Laura asked me: "Is she blonde?" **before you freak out, Laura is naturally blonde, and I am blonde by choice, so relax** I turned around and glared at the dummy and said "No. Surprisingly not." So, the lights go down. Everyone else shuts up. From just behind me I hear: "Oooooh." She watched the show ok enough. Ok enough for an eight year old maybe. She talked and sang and generally annoyed us. The lights come on for intermission. What do I hear behind me? "Um, what's going on?" she whined. Intermission. Yes, it's a four syllable word, so she's probably never heard it before. Her boyfriend gets up to go get her more beer and twizzlers. DingDong calls a friend: "Hey! Yeah! I'm at Jersey Boy! So, OH MY GOD! I am Freaking out! I'm sitting here like going I think I left my straightener on! Yeah! I know! NO really! Are you around? DO you think you could like go over there? Yeah. No, it's on. I'm sure. Yeah. It's in the kitchen. Next to the coffee thing. Could you? Oh, you are so awesome! Thanks! Ok! Bye!" Pretty much at the end of every song of the second act, the dippy hooted and hollered, I'm pretty sure she assumed the show was over. Me? I just wanted to punch her in the face. Anyway. After the show, Laura and I had some pretty phenomenal Greek food. Now, if you know me well enough, please pick yourselves up off the floor - yes, I said Greek food. Yes, Greek restaurant. Yes, I hyperventilated a little. Yes, I was tense and not looking anyone in the eye. But beyond my not wanting to be there, the food was great and reasonable, and the place was cute and clean. I will go back there. If only for the saganaki and rice pudding. Friday night was all yummy salads followed by strawberry cupcakes with milk chocolate frosting with VonSis and Sil1x. Good times. Sunday was errands, laundry, homework, and resting my poor busted knee. Happy Monday.

Last Night.

Sometimes when I talk about VonMom, people think I am either exaggerating, or being too harsh. I love my mom. However. Here's what happened last night when I popped over to VonParentsHaus for a visit. Me: "Blah blah blah, cousin blah blah" **both parents simultaneously interrupt me to say stupid and incorrect things that they think I might say next, when I was actually trying to fill them in on something totally new*** Me: "SIGH!! No! That's not at all what I'm talking about!" Yes, I was irate VonMom: "Do we piss you off?" VonDad (God, I seriously LOVE my dad!!) kinda didn't say anything. I changed the subject. A little while later just between VonMom and I: Me: "So, to answer your previous question, you piss me off when I am talking and you interrupt me and talk over me. All. The. Time." VonMom: "Well, you finish people's sentences and stuff." Me: "Really? Like when you tell me the same story three or four times? And I finish it for you? Like then?" VonMom: "Well, you just get so angry." Me: "Because you interrupt me. You've been doing it forever. It pisses me off." VonMom: "You get so angry." Me: "Because it's rude. You don't let me speak." So, we both drop it. Drum roll please!! Not five minutes later: VonMom: "I bought you something." Me: "Oh." VonMom: "You're probably going to get pissed. And hate it." Me: "Great. Give it to me." VonMom: "It's a book." Me: "Mmmhm." VonMom comes back in the room and hands me.............. 'Finally Thin: How I lost 200 Pounds! And you can too!' Me: "You know, if I lost 200 pounds I would be dead, or at least really freaky looking." VonMom: sigh Me: "Yeah. Great." VonMom: "I thought you would find camaraderie in it." Me: "Camaraderie? What?!?" VonMom: "Well, I just read the jacket. It's uplifting you know." Me: "A fat book. Thanks." VonMom: "Are you going to read it?" Me: "I'll take it home." VonMom: "You hate it. You're pissed." Me: " Mmmhm." VonMom: "Do you want a cookie or donut before you go meet your friends for pizza?" None of the above is embellished. I didn't add anything for an entertainment factor. This is my life. This is my mother. Said angrily "You get so angry!" Said lovingly "You're fat. Want some cake?" Anyone want a book written by some formerly fat chick?