Mimosas!

Notice - new juicer



To me, there is nothing quite like starting a weekend morning with mimosas. These are not your average run-of-the-mill mimosas, either. I personally juiced 3lbs of fresh tangelos for these mimosas. You can't buy tangelo juice, but I have to say that if there is a heaven, it will be offered there. Along with an endless supply of champagne, of course.


And hey - after my third (or is it fourth?) of these I can barely remember the phone call from my parents last night.


It's always the same. The phone rings and the caller i.d. reads "PARENTS." I either groan and don't answer it, or I groan and answer it. I never actually want to pick up the phone when they call.



For the last year or so the only thing we seem to discuss is their dog. Or rather, my mom's dog. Her baby. And god, how she dotes on that dog, relaying every cute trick or event to anyone who will listen. What proud parents they are - of the dog. And what a lucky dog she has been!

I sometimes think that if my mother had paid half as much attention to me when I was a little girl as she has paid to that dog........ Well, who knows, but most likely I would be only half as fucked up as I am. No, huh uh, I have no resentment.

As life sometimes goes, the 7-yr-old dog was diagnosed with bone cancer in her leg last year. The dog was given 3-6 months to live. Thousands and thousands of dollars (for radiation treatment, medications, trips to multiple veterinarians for second and third opinions, a trip to a vet surgeon hundreds of miles away to see if the leg could be partially amputated and the dog fitted with a prosthesis) and 10 months later, the dog is still dying.

That's no surprise, of course. What is a surprise is all the money they've dumped into trying to save her when they've been told it was impossible. There seems to be an endless supply of money available for them to throw to the dog, but there wasn't enough to help out their daughter who was a single mother and in danger of starving. Yes, I did make my own bed, and yes I must lie in it. It's OK. I understand.

Oh no, don't be silly! I'm not jealous of a dog!

And "Well, how are you and the kids?" comes at the end of the conversation. The usual quick "oh, fine, great, blahblah" and "Well, I need to get back to dinner." Oh yeah, we'll talk again soon. Uh huh. Yeah, I know we need to come visit. Uh huh. Love you too. Buh bye.

My parents were sort of paradoxial role models for me. While I could never (would never) call them to ask parenting advice - for anything - ever, I most certainly learned from them. I learned what NOT to do and say to my children. I learned that everything you do and everything you say to your children affects them. I learned that words hurt more than beatings. I learned that words can never be unsaid, and that they can leave deep scars.

Well that's something. Thanks, y'all.

Damn these mimosas are good.