Suzan wrote: “Rise up…” And I did, today. What you must know about Suzan is that she is some kind of a shaman. The kind that make you hear the deaf speak and taste the sunrise. That kind of shaman. She was right. From the covers, and hats, buckets, tissues, mops, cool nest of the linoleum tiled bathroom floor soothing my clammy face – I rose up. Why? Because you rise from your patheticness when your 6 year old wants to go to the parade.
I felt like Sandra Bullock’s character in that movie, Gravity. You know the scene after her space capsule plunges into the ocean, and she escapes, nearly drowns (after almost freezing, drifting off into space, defying a million deaths), bursts through the surface of the water, claws her way onto shore, and lifts herself barely upright like the first biped from the swamp, shaking, trembling, on feet heavier than the earth itself? You know, that scene? Well, that’s how I felt standing up to go to the parade. Ok, ok. Yeah, I know. John already told me. Perhaps a wee bit overdramatic. I admit it. But – let’s just say – it was hard, very hard to get up.
We walked down the streets of Kalamazoo, or rather, I shuffled, To see the parade.
See, I’ve taken my boy to every parade he’s ever been to. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade when we saw Santa fly high above us and we walked right under his big round inflatable butt. And then from the 3rd floor of Stuart’s patient’s Central Park West apartment Spidey flew by horizontally directly out the window. We’ve also been to the Kalamazoo Holiday Parade where annually Rudolf is dragged sideways for a block to avoid snapping wires.
And to NYC’s St. Paddy’s Day parade during which time men are apparently invited to pee freely in the subway. Despite the lure of the couch, despite my fruitless efforts to invoke the parade to come to me, Michael, John and I attended the 2015 Kalamazoo St. Paddy’s Day parade in all its …. glory.
AND MY BOY WAS HAPPY!
So proud of your courage and strength. Our children help us to do the impossible sometimes! xoxo
Rise up for the kids but don’t forget to lie down for a nap:))) Love your writing!!
You never cease to amaze!!! Did you drink some green beer, too?!
I hope your boys were then able to snuggle down with you for a rest, maybe in bed or on the couch, away from the coolness of the linoleum. Love you XXX
You rock! I’m gonna play some Bob Schneider in my living room and dance, dance, dance thinking of you!
Amen!
YOU ARE AMAZING!!!
You are truly following Winston Churchill’s advice…” When you’re going through Hell…keep going!”
He would be proud of you!
Alison, that was like a Bruce Lee back flip off the linoleum to totally scissor kick cancer in the face. BTW, in that photo, Michael looks a little like Pat or Mikey from Local 101 circa bar number three on his St. Patty’s day pub crawl.
You are the strongest, bravest person I know. AND you are the World’s Greatest Mom!
I tell you, you wouldn’t be able to tell from that photo that you had just a few hours before been going through such hell! I love all of your smiling faces, I love all of you. Hopefully getting out, being together and enjoying “the glory” of Kalamazoo’s parade was just what the doctor ordered. xoooooxoxoxox