Moody Meow

Liberal, lunatic lassie, with mood swings and foot-in-mouth syndrome

Give to Get

Posted on | April 26, 2005 | 3 Comments

Mom and I spoke at length last night, chewing on the past week’s events and their repurcussions. The conversation meandered from the health of my grandmother and her inability to take responsibility for her own well being, to the fragile state of Mom’s marriage, to the implosion of friendships.

Then we started talking about funerals. She has a friend named Jil, who she grew up with when she was in Miami. Jil’s mom’s name was Corkey, and she died three weeks ago. Corkey was a lizard skinned, over tanned, chain smoking drunk with short, blonde streaked hair and an insincere smile. I remember being a kid, probably no more than 6, visitng Corkey and Jil in Miami. My memory is flooded by the feeling of tension between the adults and the overwhelming desire to strip naked and dive into their pool. The pool room bubbled with light, bright and cleansing, it seemed to burn away Corkey’s drinking problem and my mother and Jil’s hesitance in dealing with the rambling drunk. That is the last memory I have of Corkey…..so now…she’s dead.
Jil lives in Manhattan. She has a teensy apartment that suits her needs, which are not terribly grand since she’s a nurse. Mom didn’t want to flood her tiny place with an ill-perfumed boquet. Rather, she wanted to send her a plant, something that would live on in Corkey’s memory. But, Jil doesn’t have the room. Mom decided to make a donation to Safe Nights, a program in Summit County that purchased nights at a safe haven for battered families. It costs fifty bucks. After speaking with Mom at length about this I understood that doing something like that in her name was more honorable than sending something that will wither and die. Cut flowers are morbid things. Why spend tons of money to buy something that won’t last? A donation to the charity of choice makes more sense. It does more good in the long run….

So, in leiu of a mother’s day gift I am going to donate money to either Tampa Bay Beagle Rescue, or one of the other local adoption agencies. Mom thinks that is a true gift. She doesn’t need anything else, really. She has bits of jewelery, movies, toys. She’s worked hard to get things for herself, so there really isn’t much she needs. I think it would honor her more if I shared our love with organizations that need it…. I am taking her good intentions and passing them on to someone else….

So, why the rambling diatribe? I don’t want birthday presents this year (except the PSP). Make a donation in my name to a charity of your choice. I would prefer on of the animal rescue organizations, but that’s your choice….

And I am really fucking tired and don’t feel like I can put together a well formed sentence….exhaustion is kicking in..

Category: Contemplation

Comments

3 Responses to “Give to Get”

  1. David M
    April 26th, 2005 @ 8:49 am

    That is an interesting idea and generous too.

  2. Julie
    April 26th, 2005 @ 9:06 am

    So you don’t want the gfabulous Kimono? Ok then I’ll just have to cancel my order.:wink:

  3. Meow
    April 26th, 2005 @ 9:33 am

    :shock: Well that would be nice too…. I forgot about that!

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