Brrrraaaiiiiinnnssss...

My brain mostly works too fast for me to keep up with. I think it's always been this way. I don't ever recall many times when I've just been blank-headed and taking things as they come.

I would assume that's based on two things. I grew up ( as in born and raised, not transplanted at 13 ) in New York City. Hello... we are the city that never sleeps. Okay... we were, until Mayor Bloomberg cleaned the place up and let Disney into Times Square. Also, my mama is ridiculously OCD. Between the two, there wasn't much room for just daydreaming the days away.Unless you count the endless hours I spent with my nose in books and my brain in other worlds. Personally, I don't count those because my brain was working then.


I have stuff to blog about. I've even had the time to blog about it. It's just that I never know what to start with, and how to segue from one topic to the next. It's one of my biggest failures as a writer. At least in fiction I can close the chapter and pick-up anew in another. Oh well.. here we go.

Thanksgiving was awesome. I liked last year's Turkey better. Punky liked this one better. My mom and her boss were too busy eating to debate Turkeys. All in all I think everyone was pleased. We got to share some of my overly huge manly pride turkey with neighbors even, because my mom is nice like that and had apparently gone on recon missions to find out who wasn't having family over for the holidays and who wasn't having the privilege of turkey, and bringing them some of our own.

That's my mom in a nutshell. She's a nurturer. If she can bend over backwards to help others, she will. Happily no less. It made me feel good to watch her and Punky deliver these covered dishes of food. Even her boss was surprised by her act.

He said : " Doesn't it make you feel good, Mama, to do nice things for others. "

Can  you guess what my mom said? I'm gonna bet that the average person can't.

She shook her head no, hands busy serving up more dishes. It took her a moment to respond, since she's the kind of person who isn't grand at multi-tasking if it involves talking. Eventually, she said..

" No, it doesn't. Why, should it? "

Please notice the comma placement. She wasn't asking why it should feel good, she was asking if it should.

Most people don't understand my mother. It takes too long to get to know her. The people that do take the time, are the same people who stop me in the street wherever I am and gush to me about how great she is. I am always happy to gush back. My mother has flaws by the bucket-load. She's nowhere near to perfect, and I wouldn't try to paint her that way, but she is special.

Most of us, myself included, do things that are good and kind and come away with at least a warm feeling in our chest. It's a feeling that acts as a motivator so that we can repeat the kindness as often as possible, it's also a reward. Like my mother's boss said, it feels good.

The world is already lacking greatly in acts of kindness and generosity, where would we be without the little voice, the gentle nudge, the whisper that tells us to give our change to the homeless, to put a dollar in to the Salvation Army bucket, to help our neighbor, our family, our friend?  I don't know where we'd be, and honestly, it's a little scary to think about.

My mother doesn't get a warm feeling. She doesn't come back smiling and beaming because she just did something good, she comes back smiling and beaming because Punky is wearing a Loli bow and it tickles my mother pink. When she acts, she acts on her own principles of good and bad, right and wrong. She requires no incentive, or reward, to do what's right. She just does it. She does it because it's right. And I could write paragraphs and paragraphs about it, trying to explain it even just to myself, but it wouldn't matter and it wouldn't make anything clearer or grander, because my mother is a simple person and acts in simple ways.

I am very proud to be her child.

In other news... Our Christmas tree is up. That's our tradition. Thanksgiving night it goes up, and it did. The Brat loved that, though he did feel very put out that we didn't have a star topper. Unfortunately, last year's topper didn't survive till this year. He was also very excited about his own blue tinsel tree, and had a ball decking it out in his room.

We still have much ornament shopping to do, but that will have to come slowly, because Friday was Punky and I's first time venturing out into the madness that is Black Friday. Annnd... I've gotta say... not so bad. It wasn't as hectic and crazy as the news makes it sound every year. Here I had been ready to throw some elbows, and mow people over,  but it wasn't necessary. However, our tiny Christmas fund flew out the window faster than fast. This is okay though, because that's what a Christmas fund is for, and it means that The Brat will be having his best Christmas yet.

I will try and put up some pictures of the tree up later. I'll most likely just poke Punky into doing it for me. Today we're off for our weekly family dinner at my mom's. Tomorrow I will try and blog some more, and keep my resolution to myself of keeping this place alive.

-Angelwick.

P.S. Yaaaaaaaay! Our second follower ever! Hello and welcome to the fire escape!