Open Thread

Legion, the fact europe is doing worst than us is giving us false believe that we dont have to deal with the austerity crap Europeans are contemplating now. The “medicine” is nasty and dragging it out to take later wont make it sweet.

m4l,
the gulf oil spill, unemployment, afghanistan, recession/depression, russian spies…

is it too late to go back to the good old
days of the Carter years?

at least there was Disco then.

legion, just let the Titanic hit. too late to convince the captain that there a big iceburg ahead behind the mist. rather just start putting on the life vests, lowering the boats off the side,….

Thanks guys,
I’m good, back at work.

In the spirit of previous posts
by CGar, Snappy and Montrose
about loved ones that they lost,
I wanted to post this as an
inspiration or a
rememberance or even an indulgence
on my part.

How does one begin to tell the story of a lifetime?

A story of so many lives touched and special moments
that form a mad rush of images, at times beautiful,
happy, sad, funny and always unique to the story of
our mother.

Mom was a keeper of secrets,
she knew how to make happiness out of misfortune
she knew how to make my wounds heal with less pain
she knew how to tell me about life and the way
it unfolds with fantastic stories.

There is mom holding me still to treat a cut
suffered from falling out of a tree,
or holding me in her arms to break a fever.

or rubbing my pain away,
that time I tried to hold a bee inside my cupped hands.

There is mom holding my hand on my first day of
school. I wasn’t afraid,
no not with her support.
And then hugging me as I graduated from college.

There is mom driving us to a picnic by the beach
and her laughing beside dad on a summer day that lasts
forever.

There is mom who told us stories of her childhood
on a farm raising her younger brothers and sisters when
our grandmother passed away in her youth.

There is mom celebrating New Years Day, a glass
of champagne and her laughter and her way of saying:
“me voy a emborrachar” (I’m gonna get tipsy)

Mom had favorite sayings;
“no me digas” (ya don’t say!)
“Ay San Judas” (oh Saint Jude!)

There is mommy traveling around the world
To Colombia, to Curacao, to Spain, to Canada

or on a special
trip just to say hello,
I’ve missed you and I love you.

There is mom going away on a cruise trip.
how she loved to go on cruises!

There is mommy throwing a dried up cow patty at
my younger sister
who’s running away screaming with mom after her
laughing on an afternoon camping trip

There is mom defending us from mean kids in the
neighborhood,
No one would want to get between her and her
children.

and there she is again
dressing older sister for the Prom

There is mommy speeding in a car through the desert
with dad on her way to California.
She loved driving, she loved driving fast even more.

That time she was stopped by an officer
one morning for going too fast,
she quickly turned to me and told me to act sick,
we ended up getting a police escort to a hospital
in Long Island then went out for lunch and ice cream
right after the coast was clear.

And mom tending to tomatoes in the garden,
she loved her gardens, filled with greens and roses
which were her favorite. Everything seemed to bloom
larger and sweeter for her .

She hated caterpillars, though.
“Virgin santisima, no me deje ver un gusano”
(Holy Mary, just don’t let me see a caterpillar!)

There is mommy cooking and making everything special
with her love, with her endless capacity to give of
herself and her dreams and hopes .

There is mommy enjoying her time with her grand kids
Her image shining in their eyes.
And Dad standing proud next to her,
in a smile
that lasts forever.

Her story was the story of family
of sharing,caring,
of being our gentle guide
to secrets which reveal themselves
daily in the acts of kindness and joy
that we can still remember and
view at will in the quiet corners of our minds.

I will miss you mom,
for all those things and
a million more.

Legion,

welcome back man. we’ll give you all the distractions you want/need.

as much as you miss your mom, use that to remind yourself to be as good or even better parent to your kids (ie cause you were lucky enough to have good parents yourself)