Tag: Mom

Posted in Movies

All Shook Up

Posted on by D. Parker

I am indeed feeling all shook up these days…
Mm mm mm, mm, yay, yay, yay
Mm mm mm, mm, yay, yay, yay

I’m all shook up!

I went to the latest Elvis movie with my Mom, both my parents were huge Elvis fans and we were introduced to The King at a very young age. Baz Luhrmann isn’t always my cup of tea, but with this movie he outdid himself or maybe Austin Butler’s performance just overwhelms any “issues”.

I felt Tom Hanks (whom I generally adore) gave a choppy performance. Maybe the subject of his attempt was just too repulsive to convey. The film was lovely, but chilling with it’s overwhelming theme of exploitation.

I loved Austin Butler in The Shannara Chronicles so I knew he’d be brilliant, but this was absolutely stunning, Warning: Bring tissues. A grand movie about a talent beyond measure and exploitation beyond reason. I hope fame doesn’t chew and spit out Austin Butler the way it did Elvis.

  • My memories of Elvis begin with Saturday morning chores. My parents were young and hip, and my Dad would do a “playlist” of 45s which he’d stack on our old giant stereo cabinet. The music designed to keep us all moving so we’d get our chores done quickly to get on with the weekend. This playlist always included some solid Elvis classics.
  • I remember where I was when I heard Elvis passed. We were in Kingston visiting family, my brother and I were watching TV when the Breaking News of Elvis dying was announced. I went into the other room where my parents, aunts, grandparents were and said Elvis was dead. My Mom told me that wasn’t a funny joke. I said I wasn’t joking. My brother then confirmed it. We all went into the living room and there was a lot of crying.
  • I don’t know how many times I’ve watched Elvis movies, ironically and unironically.
  • My Mom thought my Dad looked like Elvis…my Dad was ok with that.
  • I know the lyrics to many but not all 710 songs Elvis recorded.
  • I like many but definitely not all covers of Elvis songs (though many of his songs were also covers…whoa, sounds like a cover-up to me).
  • Elvis died at 42. That sucks.

But we can learn, can’t we? I hope we can. Stop falling for the snowmen, the con men, the ones who want to take our rights, scam us, snow us, trick us, diddle us, swindle, boondoggle, flimflam, all the grifters, including the ones in fancy suits with fancy cars in fancy offices and fancy bars. Stop arguing with each other on the internet. It’s not us versus them. It’s us being pummeled and saying yes sir, may I have another.

I was crying during the Elvis movie, partly because what was done to Elvis was awful but also, because it’s being done to me, to many of us every single day. We’re being chewed up and spit out, and all we do is blame other citizens, many of who are also suffering. We need affordable, secure, hopeful housing; we need affordable, secure food; we need affordable, accessible, consistent healthcare; we need transparency; we need politicians to keep their promises; we need a basic income, and above all, to be treated with basic human dignity, all this, for all. Times change. If something isn’t working, we need to change it. If we don’t change with them, adapt, well, survival of the fittest actually means survival of the most adaptable.

And I’m all shook up and I’m screaming at the top of my lungs (in my head)
Pretending the echoes of today, tomorrow, and yesterday belong to someone (they belong to all of us).

Mm mm mm, mm, yay, yay, yay

Mm mm mm, mm, yay, yay, yay

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Posted in Family, Holidays, Uncategorized

The Mother Of All Blogs

Posted on by D. Parker

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/My best motherhood move? Making my son  understand I’m flawed… seriously flawed. As is everyone. I wanted him to understand…

1. Not being perfect isn’t necessarily a bad thing.https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/2. No good deed goes unpunished, but do good deeds anyway, it will feel good.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/3. You can’t get rid of something or someone until you’ve learned what it or they need to teach you.https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/4. Motherhood isn’t a club. We’re not all the same. We shouldn’t care or compare how someone else is being a Mom, do what’s best for your child or children.https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/

5. We don’t really need a day, or a week, or a month, we need all people to be treated equally and respectfully. A woman isn’t instantly better because she has a child. We need just don’t one day where we get: flowers, diamonds, cards, ecards, buckets of chicken with recorded messages in the lid, spa treatments, edible arrangements… https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/ What we need a world where children are taught to treat others with dignity; who don’t see lying as a way of life and cheating as a lifestyle choice; and who think perception is more important than reality.https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/6. I barely remember what I had for breakfast most days, but Jimmy Kimmel is right, that moment when doctors/nurses look concerned about your baby, that’s a moment frozen in time.
Despite reading What To Expect When You’re Expecting and other books on pregnancy and motherhood, I never expected to be in the ER when my son was a month old, never expected to see him quarantined, full of wires and tubes, having a machine breathe for him while he artificially slumbered.
Not being a doctor (although I play one at home), I didn’t know what was wrong. I’d never heard of RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus, while common, for infants it can be dangerous, even fatal). Approximately 11 days in hospital (5 on a respirator, isolated with 24-7 private nurse care). I lived there – slept, ate, read to my son: Dr. Seuss, E.B. White, Maurice Sendak, Star Wars, Star Trek (might explain a lot), and more while amazing nurses, doctors, and staff helped my beautiful, tiny, once-and-future-King-of-the-Wild-Things heal. These memories still bring tears, some of pain, some of joy.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/Family and friends were there for us (I can never thank you enough).
People often say not much else matters if you don’t have your health, I say, not much else matters if you don’t have your healthcare.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/

7. The Handmaid’s Tale might represent motherhood best of all. Margaret Atwood wrote this (although I bet she never foresaw the SNL version) as a cautionary tale, but there’s a more subtle message often lost, having a baby shouldn’t be about power, also, a woman’s worth isn’t tied to her fertility, she shouldn’t be treated better or worse because of it. Women and men should be treated with compassion, empathy, dignity, and kindness no matter their gender, fertility, status, race, religion, marital status, wealth, etc. People shouldn’t be rewarded for bullying, lying, cheating, controlling, subjugating…This latest adaptation (Hulu or Bravo or CraveTV) is addictive, mesmerizing; the cast is stunning, the tale chilling, eerie…if this is how we save the human race, is it worth saving?https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/

8. How could anyone have a child if they watched Twin Peaks (Dual Spires for Psych fans)…because, the world is just like this show: weird, wonderful, strange, stunning, fascinating, frightening, and full of moments that will haunt you, and full of moments as sweet as cherry pie or donuts https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/04/28/well-cream-you-with-our-tim-hortons-donuts-you-hosers/https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/We hear the nostalgic, evocative themes of the Twin Peaks… https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/and The X-Files… https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/

Hmmm, maybe James Comey could get a new job on these reunion FBI dramas, after all, he knows FBI drama. https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/The truth is out there? Remember, life isn’t all about what’s under the plastic, it’s about what happens before, during, and after and it’s up to us to make it wonderful, not horrible (take note Trump).https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/So as I drop this,
er, ummm,
Mother of all Blogs?
Happy Mother’s Day
to everyone…
not just mothers,
but people,
enjoy this day
and everyday.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/05/09/happy-mothers-day-i-just-ate-your-gift/https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/ https://yadadarcyyada.com/2016/05/06/nothings-gonna-stop-us-now/ 

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/

I have millions of reasons why I love my son. Reason #82: he wakes up singing or humming every day. I was thinking, we should all be so lucky to wake up that way.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/05/13/the-mother-of-all-blogs/

Posted in Autism, Canada, Chocolate, Family, Movies, Televison

Happy Mother’s Day – I Just Ate Your Gift

Posted on by D. Parker

1moms3Someone asked me the things I would have done differently as a Mom. I could lie and say nothing, I was perfect, but it’s not true.

I would have cared  a lot less about what people said.

I would have cleaned less and listened more.

I would have ignored the heartburn, swelling, and other difficulties of my pregnancy because my son was growing under my heart even as he took over my heart.

I would have gazed even more at my son’s amazing face because it took me too long to realize it changed often, and permanently.

I would have listened less to what people told me was ‘right’ or what I ‘should do’ and listened to my heart more.1moms5

I would have figured out earlier that I didn’t have to be Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Martha Stewart combined; I was fine as just me.

I would have spent more time there, in that moment because in that moment, everyone was there and now they aren’t.

1moms7

I’m glad I sat on the floor and played Thomas the Tank Engine.

I’m glad I rolled in the grass, built sandcastles, and almost threw up on rides.

I’m glad we ate popcorn in a couch fort.

I’m glad we made snow angels and laid in the grass finding shapes in the clouds.

I’m glad we laughed as we waded through muddy fields to get the best pumpkin ever.

I’m glad we ate ice cream and talked about all the ‘sharks’ in the river and giggled as we tried to name them.

I’m glad I never turned down a sticky kiss or told my son to wash his grubby hand instead of holding it.

1moms8

Moms kiss boo-boos to make them better, go to appointments, love unconditionally, make sandwiches that may or may not be traded to other kids, laugh, cry, help with schoolwork, brush teeth, change diapers, read and cuddle, dance in bare feet to Elvis, nag repeatedly about cleaning rooms, and teach how to be in the world.

Enjoy the moment of being a daughter or son, of being a Mom, Dad, brother, sister, grandparent, friend, aunt, uncle, cousin – life is too quick and too complicated not too enjoy.

Hopefully this  Mother’s Day you don’t have to:1moms6

  • Save the future of the entire human race by allowing your son to hang out with a Terminator (then again, you can’t pick their friends).

  • Break into ABBA songs while trying to remember who your child’s father is.

  • Send your supernatural darling to the prom.

  • Nag your son, even from beyond the grave to maintain the family motel business and to shower his guests with attention.

  • Date your son when he travels back in time to your high school.

  • 1moms1Worry if your little girl is the best and most stylish vampire slayer she can be.

  • Expose secrets about corporations using toxic substances while in heels.

  • Stop selling Avon long enough to rescue an orphan with a cutting issue.

  • Raise little dragons to be upstanding members of the community – take that villager out of your mouth, honey, you don’t know where he’s been!

  • Keep a royal dynasty going by providing heirs…and spares.

  • Have enough children to make a baseball league.

  • Or keep the hills alive with the Sound of Music while escaping the Nazis.

Life is like a box of chocolates…Happy Mother’s Day, I just ate your gift.

1moms2