Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Having Fun With My Kids

When my kids were little we had a VCR tape of the Wizard of Oz. They were totally addicted. One day on Mr. Rogers, he had the woman who played the bad witch on his show. She was a grandmother, who liked reading to the grandkids. Then he showed her a cape and witches hat. She put them on and laughed her evil cackle. My 1 ½ year old stuck her thumb in her mouth and was transfixed.
A couple of years later, we took our kids to Disney MGM (at that time). We took the Great Movie Ride and to my delight, at the Alien section, the creature stuck its head out of the ceiling and was right above my 5 year old. She screamed and I put my arm around her and laughed.
Years later when she was 17 and my youngest was 10 we watched the Stephen King movie “It”. I think I kind of ruined the movie for my older kids because I kept mentioning that I saw the actors in other TV shows. Anyway, my son never complained of nightmares.
The following year we went to a Haunted Halloween Walk. I explained to him that everyone was wearing masks. Well, one of the characters was a demented-looking clown. Well, once the guy realized that my son was scared, he followed him all the way through to the end. Luckily, he, for some reason, he grew up to be afraid of spiders. What?

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Climbing back out - AGAIN

I go through periods of depression. So far I haven’t seen a therapist. My oldest daughter takes after me, and I don’t know if we can afford two therapists, so she may do it first. I not only lost myself, I’ve given myself to other people. I love my husband, but he can be very negative and I am very much affected by the atmosphere that I am in. I have talked to him about it but it doesn’t seem to sink in that we both have to change. I guess we both feel that everything would be fine if the other person changes.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Do Europeans Hate Americans or Vice Versa

I was in Rome when Barack Obama was elected. Someone told me that their President was a lot like George Bush. I don’t think he meant it as a compliment.
The year before I was in a pub in London eating dinner and after I told the waitress what I wanted, he started criticizing Bush in a very loud voice. I ignored him because, hey, he was right, and I was an Obama supporter. Besides, I did not want to stoop to the jerk’s level.
I generally have not been aware of any rudeness in any of the places I visited in Europe because I am an American. Of course, I only know a few phrases in foreign languages. I do however, have a great deal of respect for the countries that I visit.
If any Europeans want to come and visit my area in Southwest Florida, I can guarantee that Floridians would be very happy to see you.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Can't Always Get What You Want

As a child, we did not take family vacations. Once I remember my Dad saying he would take us to an amusement park. On the way out there, he got mad for some reason I don’t remember , turned around and took us home. That was it. We never got to that park or any other. I remember on a few occasions we would go to a local park and have a barbecue. A few times we went to a local fast food joint for take-out burgers. We never went on a vacation or a restaurant. I think my dad took me to the movies once when I was six. We kids went to the movies on Saturday for 50 cents. The summer before I started first grade, my Dad took me to Mass. After I started school, that ended. The only place we went to on a regular basis was to visit my Aunt Marge and my four cousins. The adults would sit in the kitchen and drink beer while the kids played. I somehow got the message that the things I wanted were not considered important. When the day came that I told my Dad that I wanted to go to college, he told me that women didn’t need college. I was disappointed, because I wanted to be a teacher. But like I said the things I wanted were not important. So I did not argue the point. Years later I came to realize that some of this had to do with the fact that my Dad did not make that much money. But my Dad did not spend that much time with me and I still have that feeling that what I want is not important. So I forgot about my goals.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Toothpicks Holding Up My Eyelids

Really tired today. Rough time with kids yesterday. Without giving away FAMILY SECRETS (or I would have to kill anyone who may someday happen to read this), two of my young adult children who live at home got into a nasty argument which quickly spiraled out of control. And as usual, Spongemom (certainly not Teflon-Mom) did her best to absorb as much of the negativity as possible. Frozen pizza, chips, a few strong gin and tonics and a Netflix movie got me through the evening. Then my tummy started punishing me so I took a couple of Zantac and went to bed at 8, took a little nap and woke up with a headache around 9 PM. I found the Excedrin Migraine, took two, and realized that I am running out. My headache went away but I still did not feel like ironing Laura’s clothes for her job interview. The Big Fight was mostly her fault anyway even though Andrea overreacted (big surprise). Anyway, I got back to sleep around 2:30. Got up at 6:30 to iron her blouse and touch up the jacket. Gave her some advice for the interview and money for lunch and gas (she also has an appointment with the guidance counselor at FGCU about her Master’s).
I really thought that I would get to sleep earlier because whenever I come up with a great blog idea, it’s usually right before I fall asleep and the next day I can’t remember anything. All I can remember is thinking “Wow, that’s a great idea. So good that maybe I can try to promote my pathetic little blog.” Even though I was awake for a good hour or so after that, I still can’t remember my idea. I’m gonna have to try to remember to write it down.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

It's The Time of the Season

Woohoo! Hurricane Season! That gets the most publicity, probably because we get a few days warning. But we can get tornadoes, too. I only witnessed one.

We were on the road when we heard the tornado warning. We thought the most logical thing to do was to pull over at Bennigan’s. When we got closer to the entrance, we saw a bunch of people outside taking pictures of something across the street. Turned around and it was a goddamned tornado, tearing the roof off a house. Of course, I had to pull out my cell, too. Everyone then went inside. I wanted to get a look through the window in the heavy wood doors .Before I had a chance, the wind blew hard enough to blow them open. The tornado crossed the street, went around the restaurant and tore through a couple of apartment buildings. The worse thing that happened to me was that Bennigan’s lost power and I had to eat somewhere else (needed a drink but I can’t entirely blame that on the tornado. We drove home first, to check on the cat and since Bruce was driving, I tried to get in touch with my kids. No answer. It wound up that my son was sleeping (wearing ear plugs) and my daughters decided that it was a good time to go to Taco Bell. They could see the tornado traveling overhead as they drove. No wonder I needed the drink.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Response to a Roger Ebert Post: Racism

I grew up in a working class neighborhood in Philadelphia. I attended Catholic school. It was all white, no blacks or Hispanics. We were told that if we attended a Protestant Church service we would be “worshipping false gods” and committing a mortal sin. All through grade school, I believed that Protestants were pagans.

As a child, I rarely saw black people. There was an elderly couple around the corner. I never spoke to them nor they to me. They gave me the creeps. I rarely saw black people on TV (This was the late 50’s, early 60’s. The only black person I remember seeing on TV was a clip featuring Cab Calloway. He scared the daylights out of me. We rarely discussed black people at home. I remember hearing my Dad refer to someone smelling “like a nigger” because she wore too much perfume. He then explained that they smell bad. My mother, who liked rock and roll, especially the Platters and Chuck Berry, could not listen to it when my Dad was home. He called it “jungle music”. When I was 12, my best friend’s enemy had gotten a couple of her black friends to shove her. I said (the first and last time in my life) “Nigger”. To my surprise, the girl, who thought my friend said it, punched her hard in the stomach.

When I was 14, I entered a new stage in my life. Unfortunately, my parents, who never went to high school, were not able to cope well with my adolescence. I wound up living in a hospital for emotionally disturbed children. Since I had already started to question my upbringing, I was fascinated with the black children I met there. A girl named Bertha actually taught me what the word “Nigger” meant. After a few months, I was transferred to a group home run by a black woman, Mrs. Star (I think that’s how she spelled it). It was pointed out to me by my white friend, that I actually spoke with the same accent that my foster family used.

At this point, I took the entrance test and was admitted to Philadelphia High School for Girls. I did not make any friends there until my senior year. These friends were white. I did not stay in touch with them. There was a nice black girl in my English class, who at one point, became a Black Muslim. She was still very nice and signed my yearbook when I graduated. That summer, I developed a crush on a black guy, Kevin, but, since I was extremely shy, I never told him.

Years later, I was watching a TV show about Thurgood Marshall with my 6 year old daughter. In the beginning of the movie, they described the difference between the white school and the “colored” one. My little girl and I talked about it and she exclaimed, “But that’s not fair”.

In 2008, my husband and I and my three children voted for Barack Obama. Things aren’t completely fair now, but I hope the gap is narrowing.