best friend

My mama can dance, and my daddy does rock ‘n roll

Posted on by bangscrafts

My mom is pretty much my best friend, and there is little contestation in that.  (Except, as a friend pointed out, when it comes to my sister, my dad, or my sister in law).  I welcome the day with a “good morning” text to her; one of us always says goodnight before whichever of us heads to bed first.

On occasions people have asked me if I’m checking Facebook when I’m texting her.  For starters, I do not have Facebook, and I never have.  And since those circumstances, I have referred to my mother as my Facebook.  I told her that once and she sent me a blushy emoji face.

She is the most the most graceful person I know.  Whenever I have a tough conversation, or a bad day at work, I try to emulate her approach.  She invented devil’s advocate because there is always another side and usually it is important to see that.  My mother created in me someone who wants to be fair, to stand up for myself, but to also be patient and kind.

Mom and me

My dad is my dad.  He is exactly the exception of all the stupid He-Man bullshit the world puts out, while simultaneously being the most capable and coolest man possible.  He set the bar high, to put it simply.  When I was a kid all I wanted was to be exactly like him, even down to being an electrical engineer.

Once I hit the age where I realized literature was more my forte, I had to come to terms with being so different from my dreams.  But then I became an adult.  And I started asking to borrow the staple gun, or I got fed up with my landlord and I nailed down the floorboards myself.  It was a great day when I realized I become more like my father every one of them that I live.

phone-update-may-190

 

I hit the jackpot with these parent units o’ mine.  My favorite description of myself is that I am the perfect amalgamation of the two of them.  I have my mother’s beautification skills…with my dad’s power tools. 😉

“Oh there’s not too much in here,” and other dishwasher stories.

Posted on by bangscrafts

The kitchen was an oft used room in my childhood, for so much more than cooking.  My first dance parties were in that checkerboard titled room.

Our main chore was emptying the dishwasher.  Molly and I would take forever to load the 5-carousel CD player, that we knew full well only 4 CDs played from, we just never knew which CD wasn’t going to play…big mystery it was.  We’d each hold our huge CD booklet and select 2 each, and the fifth one had to be equally agreed upon.  And of course the whole lottery aspect of the player ruined our time consuming logic.

Every single time, or at least 95% of them, Molly would open the dishwasher and as she was easing the door down to the floor, she would explain (not merely say, no, exclaim!) “Oh!  There’s not too much in here!”  Because, of course, we never wanted to empty the damn thing, and when you’re a child, menial tasks take forever.  For about three years I believed she was actually stacking up memories of what the last load enumerated to be.  And then I became the wiser and realized that there was always not too much in there.

I have to say though, Molly did really try to make chores fun.  (I’ll have to go in pitchforking the woodchip pile at a later date.)  In retrospect, some of her tactics baffle me in the fact that they worked.  Such as the day she decided, “wouldn’t it be fun if we put item away at a time?!”  And then we continued to parade a fork, a bowl, the strainer, to their respective spots.

I have my own dishwasher now.  There’s a couple things I’m appreciating.  First of all, having my best friend be my sibling.  But also having literally the best sister you could ask for constantly there to make awful things awesome.  I can only hope for my future children to have a Molly.  But even then they probably won’t win as much as I have.

In case you ever wanted to have a Carroll dance party, I’ll make it easy for you:

Carroll Dance Party Playlist:

  1. The Go-Gos
  2. Backstreet Boys
  3. Shania Twain
  4. The Bangles
  5. Scorpions
  6. The Coors
  7. Pocahontas soundtrack
  8. Phantom of the Opera soundtrack
  9. Nightwish/The Ramus
  10. Bonus Track: “We didn’t start the fire” by Billy Joel (or Jimmy Bowl [another post])

You need to wear some solid-bottomed shoes, be able to pick up at least one family member, and dance like no one is watching.  Like any good Irish-person does.  Good luck, and tell me about it!