There's A Reason They Call That Charity C.A.R.E.

Cause it tugs at people's heart strings.

More on Nemo...And ME. Cause, really folks, it IS all about me.

I'm heading back to work tomorrow...After a month off. And the thing that strikes me most is just how many and now much people CARE. They REALLY DO.

Friends I thought I had written off as past (Diana - I really owe her a Thank You). Friends I wasn't sure were even friends (Matt - I knew that kiss and make up meant something). Relatives I wasn't sure even liked me (Aunt Donna was even nice to my Mom this Thanksgiving). Customers I thought hated my guts (Weekly encouragement from Mike D. And the most amazing fruit basket from all of them).

And then my good old, I knew I could count on them friends. B and K who drove me and Mom around endlessly. Same K who took me to movies, and bookstores, and shopping. T and L who brought me lunch many times. And a whole months worth of dinners!

B who somehow just knew all I needed was someone to hang onto....So he let me. (And he's a good hanger on-er, too).

Just all of it. It has been truly amazing. And I have to think this was what I was meant to learn from this experience. And - To remember when someone else comes along with something daunting...To pitch in. And be their driver, or dinner taker, or hanger on-er, or whatever it is they might need.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU. I LOVE YOU LOTS!!!!!!!!!!

To Those Of Us Who Just Barely (And Accidentally) Made It

I read the most amazing and awe-inspiring book over the holiday - All Over But The Shoutin' by Rick Bragg. He's a true southerner, raised in the most raw of southern conditions. Conditions most of us cannot imagine....But he made it. He made it way more than he should have. And way easier than he should have. He went from destitute with absentee/alcoholic father and mother who wore old clothes just to feed her kids - To Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the New York Times....With almost no education....Just grit.

It made me think of how all 3 of us kids also "made it". (Yeah - But no Pulitzer Prizes here...) We all made it way easier than we should have. Not that here is so spectacular. But really, I should be living on food stamps. Not that there is a thing wrong with food stamps. I don't think we really tried....We just kept going through life taking the next step. And thank goodness those next steps were generally upward. Plenty of people don't have that kind of luck.

But when I think back - Me, and N,and S, even bro-law, and dear friend P have made it way past where we should have. Even K was pretty blessed with a good beginning, but made it way beyond that beginning.

This is mostly my Christmas present to P. Read it and absorb it P. It is us. We didn't really try...but we made it. We way made it. We're here. Which is further than we'd ever thought we'd be. Both our Mom's AND Dad's helped us make it here. Both with and without.

This book is to you... Cause you'll get it more than anyone. Each word will keep you in awe. The Texan in you might just make way for the Southerner.

I want to meet this man. He may be my future husband. (Again..................)

Merry Christmas, P!!!

The Recipe For A Perfect Trixie Tear

Animals, cute kids, an under dog, broken and down hearted, poor, middle class, mid-western, farm country kid and dad...You get it...There's my weak spot. (And any given combo of those qualities.)

Today, in the wrath (hardly) of Nemo's convalesce, I self-indulgently went to a movie. I almost felt guilty for this self indulgent act while out on leave....But then, while I weaved myself up the stairs (minus popcorn cause I might drop it), and stumbled my way to my seat...I felt not so bad.

The movie was Dreamer. And I gotta say -- Goldie is a lucky woman...Cause Kurt is still amazingly HOT.

I was completely wrapt for 1 hr and 45 minutes.... But like I told K...The Yearling, Old Yeller, Homeward Bound, Seabiscuit? Give me an animal and I'm a goner.

Animals, plus kids, plus losers, plus underdogs, plus old drunk grandfathers, plus down on their luck midwestern farmers, plus short guys (jockies), plus immigrants, plus working class mothers, plus adorable curly headed blond toothless girls, plus WHAT ELSE CAN SPELL CUTENESS? Hey - I'm a girl...Cut me slack. I'm gonna fall for it.

So there I sat. All one eyed tearful wonder of me (also one snotted nostril for those who care)...And cheered and laughed and cried, for the horse who defied odds, the kid who put herself out there cause she believed, and the dad who did the dad thing just because he was a dad. YUP - Loved that movie! Dreamer. Go see it. And stand up and clap at the end. You'll feel good cause you did.

How To NOT Market

At a not-to-be-named-here, chain dining establishment this evening they advertised "Flight Night". Three small glasses of "surprise" wines (a flight) for a set price. These wines promised to be (sec) "red or white, unfamiliar or standard, and sexy or prunish."

PRUNISH? PRUNISH?? Is that a word?

Not PRUDISH? Maybe they meant prudish. Sexy or prudish I understand.

I thought maybe I was just lacking in my linguistic repretoire. But "prunish" is not a word, according to Merriam Webster.

What? As in "to taste like a prune"???? Is this something you want in a wine? Grapes - Yes. Plums - Perhaps. Any assortment of fruit I can think of - Maybe.

But SEXY and PRUNISH? Together in the same marketing phrase? Uh....NO!!

How to make me feel old? Bring up prunes.

How many marketing execs did that copy have to make it through?? Try again folks at H(*&^%$$#!s.

Almost Like A Giant Injection Of Prozac

Which is how caaaallllmmmm life is post-Nemo. I've neglected you all lately. No posts at all.

Because there is no drama in my life. None. Na-Da.

I cannot write about my insomnia, because I am sleeping like a baby most days.

I cannot write about work drama, because my days are spent at home.

I won't write about day-time TV, because it isn't something I've succumbed to just yet.

No - My days consist of a nice night of sleep. Blissfully waking up on my own in the morning. Laying there until I deem it time to shower. Shower, dry hair and make up peacefully. And go about whatever the rest of my day entails. Some reading. Maybe crossword puzzles. Maybe lunch with a friend. A little shopping. Generally napping. Maybe dinner out. And an evening in of prime time television.

I'm not wishing for unemployment anytime soon. But if one were to have to be off work with some sort of illness? This is the one. Nothing hurts. You can live with partial deafness and dizziness. And the nausea promotes quick weightloss.

All in all, I am enjoying this time off. Life is CAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLMMMMMM. And we like it that way.