A point my mother made regarding some of what I’ve written about the past: “I remember differently than you on most entries. Not because I am blind but because children are little and see things big.” Mood music: I don’t disagree with that. When you’re little you do see things big. In this case, my …
Continue reading “When You’re A Kid, Little Incidents Are A Big Deal”
In my slow effort to reconcile with my mother, I made it easier for her to find this blog. Given the raw emotion to be found here, I was pretty sure it would be rough. Mood music: I suspect it hasn’t been easy for her to read through this thing. Not at all. But her …
I’m praying hard for my co-worker and friend Joan Ritchie Goodchild and her husband Bryan. Bryan’s uncle and cousin were swept away in the flash flooding Tropical Storm Irene caused in Vermont Sunday. Mood music: Here’s the basics from the Burlington Free Press: The body of Rutland Water Treatment Plant Supervisor Michael Garofano, 55, was …
Continue reading “A Loss Beyond All Reason and Comprehension”
It’s Wednesday morning. I’m working from home, face behind the computer. My kids and two neighborhood kids are tearing though the house, overturning everything in sight. Then the phone rings. Mood music: “It’s been five years,” the voice on the other end says. “Can’t we fix this?” It’s my mother. I saw her at my …
Yesterday was a big family wedding and it was wonderful. My cousin Andrew married a great gal, and a lot of people who don’t usually get along managed to peacefully co-exist. Mood music: I gotta give my mother a lot of credit. Despite all the trouble between us, she gave me and Erin hugs and …
I’ve always been fiercely protective of my children. Part of it is that fear of loss. I’m like Marlin the clown fish in “Finding Nemo.” Like Marlin, I’m starting to realize I need to let the kids have some adventures. Mood music: http://youtu.be/E5H8DwJI0uA Any good parent is going to be over-protective to a point, and that’s …
For mental defects like me, a lot of what goes wrong is driven by fear. One thing I’ve learned in a 12-Step program for addiction is that the root of many fears is resentment. Mood music: You don’t have to be an addict to have resentments, of course. Most typical families, work environments and fellowships …
Funny thing about us OCD-addict types: When the going gets tough, we blame it on someone else. Call it the Woe Is Me Disease, where the sufferer is an eternal victim, forever screwed by everyone but his or her self. Mood music: http://youtu.be/-q-MorIES5I It used to be that it was impossible for me to see …
When we fall prey to our demons, we almost always cite family dysfunction as the cause and not our own bad decisions. I’m certainly guilty of that one. Mood music: http://youtu.be/ZQlM59sDJVo Many times in this blog, I’ve cited my brother’s untimely death, my estrangement from my mother and various other family dramas as triggers for …
Continue reading “In Big Families, Drama Happens. Get Over It”
Here’s a celebration of the moms in my life — the ones I can’t live without and the ones I don’t talk to anymore. Mood music: <object width=”640″ height=”510″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/eKLAt3XO03s?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param>[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKLAt3XO03s&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]</object> There’s my mother. We don’t talk these days ( I covered the reasons in a post last year) but I want …
