How I got where I am now!

Well hey there. Here I am, a 49 year old baby boomer. It is Sunday night and I am sitting here, watching tv, and laughing to myself about things my mother does and her ability to make me completely crazy without even trying!

A little background info. I am the baby of 5 and I come from a very strong ethnic family. My dad was 100% Italian with 12 brothers and sisters. My mum is an English/Irish girl, emphasis on the Irish. Now, if you know anything about either of these nationalities, AND about the "greatest generation" ~ our seniors that grew up during WWII ~ you will know that their attachment to family is very important. These are men & women that came from homes where their grandparents lived with them . . . you know, Willy Wonka syndrome, where Grandpa Joe, Grandma Josephine, Grandpa George, and Grandma Georgina all live in the middle of the squished up little house with the whole family caring for them. Well yep, as you guessed, I grew up with my Granny & Grandpa living in our front room, being an integral part of our lives. So are you starting to put the pieces together?

As I said before, I am the baby and therefore, I am exceptionally close to my mum. When I was in high school, I wasn't the average teenager. Yeah, yeah, I dated my fare share of guys and went to the dances, rah rahed my way through football and basketball games, but I owned a Rolls Royce, a luxury yacht, a lear jet, diamonds and riches beyond your wildest dreams, all prizes in my "Name that Tune" contest that I carried out with my mum & dad, guessing in just 3 notes, the titles to songs sung by Frankie, Dino, Lena, and yes, even Eddie Arnold.

We have traveled together, shopped together, (WHOA have we shopped together) fought, fussed, laughed 'til we peed our pants, literally, had dogs, cats, mice, rabbits, birds, snakes, peeps, ducks, chipmunks, (not by choice but because of the cat), a horse, friends, enemies, frenemies. We have done all of the proverbial "mother-daughter" stuff that makes mothers and daughters what they're supposed to be, but we have transcended that. We have done something that most mother~daughter combos should never have to do, we have survived the death of our beloved daughter~sister. Now, I don't tell you this to make you sad, or to turn this rant morose, I only tell you this so you will understand why we have moved to the next level of attachment.

When was the last time you went to the bathroom and someone told you to be careful? Yup, that is what happens when a mum looses a child, no matter what age either the surviving kid . Wait, wait, don't get mad at me and tell me that I am being insensitive or snotty about losing a child. I just want you to understand that my mother is now soooo overprotective of me and my brothers, their wives, my husband, all of our kids, our dogs, our cats, our mailmen, well, you get the point. She drives her self KA-RAAAZY worrying about all of us. It is sweet, but just for the record, it makes all of us KA-RAAAZY too!

I live my mumma more than I can begin to tell you. I don't know what I would do without her, and quite frankly, I try not to think too much about that. So, in order to divert my morbid thoughts, I concentrate on the ridiculous stuff she does that makes her such an entertaining, exacerbating, loveable, nutjob!

I know that there have to be tons of you out there that are also "your mother's keepers". I want to hear from you! In the meantime, I will continue to post the ridiculous things she does that make me psycho and mumma that much more endearing!

Thanks for reading. Thanks for laughing!* Thanks for endulging me. My kids and my husband truly appreciate my venting through written word as opposed to ranting and raving at them. Who, me?

Be back soon.
Tina

*with any luck you laughed! this is not meant to dis me mum, just have a little fun with who she is!