Two Shows That Made Me Cry For Different Reasons (possible spoilers if you haven't seen them)

Luther is fascinating, maddening, and heartbreaking. I was sorry for the character's grief when his almost ex-wife was killed in series one. I didn't care about her so much, but Idris Elba played Luther's grief and feelings of betrayal by her killer very well. Series 2 didn't have any main characters die, it was just grim. Then I watched series 3...and now I want to scream. I won't say who died at the end of episode 3, just that it was one of my favorite supporting characters, and it was a nasty, undeserved death. (It also hit close to home as I constantly worry about some of my favorite officers at work finding themselves in similar situations) I bawled like a baby. Happily, the 4th episode saw the killer brought to justice. He managed to take out the one character that I wanted to see killed (teach you to mess with my man, jerk) and wound another one that I was on the shelf about (wasn't sure if she needed killing or a good slap) before getting taken down himself.


So, after watching the oh-so-good, yet oh-so-depressing Luther, I needed something to boost my spirits a bit.

Season 3 of Miranda ended with her being proposed to by no less than TWO adorable men and her mother practically weeping for joy. The final episodes start with her choosing one and the usual lunacy that follows. The scene that had me laughing so hard that the cat fled the room? Miranda and her fiancee decide to practice their first dance. "But we haven't chosen a song yet!" "The first song that comes on (as her fiancee brandishes the stereo remote) will be our song!"

The song?

They stare at each other blankly for a few seconds, and then bust out their own "Hammertime" moves. I almost died.

I almost didn't watch the rest of the show after Miranda & her fiancee split up at the end of part one. Yep, more bawling on my part.
"WHY? WHY CAN'T MIRANDA HAVE HER HAPPILY EVER AFTER?!?"

Then I realized that there surely was NO WAY Miranda Hart would break her fans like that. So I watched the rest of the finale. And bawled some more, but this time happily. Miranda DOES get her HEA, albeit it a roundabout offbeat way; which is really the only way it could happen. And it was satisfying!

My only remaining question is this: When did I become such a big watering pot?!?

Here I Go Again- Jen Lancaster

This is Jen's second novel and quite a hoot to read. The main character is Melissa "Lissy" Ryder. Lissy was a high school homecoming queen/cheerleader/leader of the mean girls posse/snotty witch. You know the type- think Mean Girls meets Heathers. She spent her high school years running roughshod over everyone and the following years coasting on what she believed to be her past glory.

Then the proverbial rug gets yanked out from under her feet.

Suddenly Lissy finds herself broke, unemployed, single, and fat. And living with her parents. Things can't get worse, right? Wrong. She gets an invitation to her class reunion.

Thinking she can relive her glory days, and praying that her former classmates all have wretched lives, she goes. Things don't go the way she'd hoped. Most of her former victims are amazingly successful. Her ex-husband is there with a Sofia Vergara lookalike. People are lining up to take metaphorical jabs at her and her BFF has given up and walked away in disgust.

Only one person takes pity on Lissy- Deva, formerly Debbie, who has become a New Age practitioner. Deva took all the negativity heaped on her from Lissy and channeled it into something positive. She feels truly sorry for the girl who made her life hell and offers to help her by giving Liss a potion. "Only take one drop a day!"

Liss makes her way home and thinks Deva is a nut. Why be nice to someone who was so rotten to her? But it's not like she has anything to lose at this point, so she tries the potion. It doesn't taste too awful, so she has some more. And some more....and then she falls asleep...

...only to wake up in her old room. Nothing shocking there- she's had to move back in with her parents. Then she realizes that she's not just in her old room- she's in her old body! That's right...Lissy Ryder is 17 again. Now maybe she can right the wrongs of her past and have a brighter future!

Well, almost. She changes the past, and winds up with the kind of future she dreamed of. The problem is, she kind of screwed everyone else up in doing it, but is enlightened enough to care. So now she has to find Deva, get more of the potion, and try again. Does she succeed? Does she get a Happily-Ever-After without ruining it for everyone?

You'll have to read it for yourself. And if you're like me, you'll wind up digging out your old Whitesnake recordings.

"I don't know where I'm going...but I sure know where I've been..."

Because sometimes it's not all about you...

When I was in high school, our student council would take donations and adopt families via the Salvation Army for the holidays. Because the money was coming from students, it meant lots of loose change and I got quite adept at rolling the stuff. (a skill that still comes in handy) The SU advisor would tally up our collection and work with the SA to get as many families as we could provide a happy holiday for as possible. I always enjoyed working on that project, and my senior year was head of the fundraising committee. We raised enough for 25 families (a school record that still stands!) and it took 3 days of shopping and 3 days to make the deliveries.

I lost the habit of helping others after high school. Well, sort of lost. I would always stop and throw a few items in the canned food collection at the grocery store when I came across one, and I always dig into my pocket for donations to the Salvation Army bell ringers.

One year, working at Books-A-Million, I begged and pleaded with my coworkers to chip in and adopt a child from the Salvation Army. It took the addition of a prize of the homemade goodie of the winner's choice to get them to donate, but we collected $75 and I threw in $50 of my own and we got a teenage girl most of her wishlist. Our district manager won the raffle (I had no shame and hit up everyone for donations- got him on a random visit) and gave his prize to the bell ringer stationed at our store. (chocolate chip cookies if I remember correctly...)

After moving to Louisville, the independent bookstore where I worked collected books for various children's charities for the holidays. Well, of course I'm going to buy books for kids. EVERYONE should have books that wants them is one of my personal mottoes. And I continued to support food drives.

Then I started working for LMPD. The first year, I suggested to my coworkers that we adopt a child or do some other civic minded project. Louisville had lots of Hurricane Katrina refugees, so we contacted one of the shelters and adopted a displaced mother & son. My coworkers were all for the idea until it came time to contribute, and then it was like pulling teeth. It took pleading and a collection jar on the counter for the officers to help out, and even then my colleague J & I wound up putting in more of our own money than originally intended. But it was worth every dime and bit of stress to be able to fulfill their "needs" list and throw in quite a few "wants" as well. (Turns out that J & I were both power bargain shoppers)

After that experience, I decided not to bother with my coworkers any more. I try to adopt at least one kid a year, usually an older child because they often get overlooked. I still give to food drives, book drives, and for the last few years adopted a senior citizen from the giving tree at Wal-mart in honor of my late Gramma. Last year, instead of presents for my ingrate coworkers, I donated the money I would have spent on them to the food bank and to the First Reads program and plan to do it again this year.

This year, the department sent out an email from one of the children's home asking for help giving their kids a happy holiday. My parents & I had planned to do one anyway, so I requested one. Then, in a moment of insanity unbridled enthusiasm, I requested one for the office. I sent out a plea for donations, but expected to cover most of it myself. Much to my surprise, I got an overwhelmingly (for this place) positive response. Even better, I got actual cash from half my coworkers and the management! 

Mom went shopping with me and we had a blast. We bought tons of clothing and gift items for both of the 'angels' and still had money left. So, with the blessing of the home & my fellow donators, I bought an assortment of random clothing & gifts for the home to distribute as needed. We even had enough to throw in some gift wrapping supplies!

Reading back over this, it sounds like I'm blowing my own horn. That's not how I intended this piece to sound. I wanted to show that even in these days of excess, there are people out there who don't have it as good as most of us. Even the smallest donation can make an impact on someone's life. It's not about having the newest and flashiest gadgets, designer clothes, and biggest house. It's not about how cool you appear to be, because if you can't take a few minutes or spare a few dollars to help someone else, you're not that cool. We just helped make a 13 year old girl and a 12 year old boy feel like they're important enough for someone to care about them. They don't know who my coworkers, parents, & I are. They don't need to, because it's not about us. It's about THEM.

And you know what? That makes ME feel pretty darn good...

Fat people & canoes

My mother is constantly coming up with things she'd like for us to do. My father & I are a little less-than-thrilled with most of these ideas, but every now & then I/we give in and go on an adventure. Such was the case last Saturday.

Urban Wilderness Canoe Adventures was doing free canoe trips on the Ohio River. Mom saw a story about it in the paper and decided this was exactly what we needed. Uh, right. Dad just laughed, but I agreed to go, thinking she'd lose interest or forget about it. Imagine my surprise when she emailed me the confirmation & list of suggested supplies for the trip. (sunscreen, lip balm, etc) Imagine my delight when I saw the forecast for the weekend was cold & rainy. The trips were only being put off in the event of storms, not simple rain. Ugh.

Saturday rolled around and the first miracle happened. The day started out fairly chilly, but the sun was out and not a cloud in sight. We were scheduled for the 12:45 trip and it had warmed up a good bit by the time we set out. Mom picked me up early and we went to Panera for lunch beforehand. Despite the urge to eat sweets from the bakery side, we were good and had protein packed sandwiches, thinking we might need the energy for the trip.

Second miracle- we found the park that the trip was starting from with no trouble. Anyone who remembers my descriptions of previous trips ANYWHERE with my mother will understand why I regarded this as a miracle. We had some time to kill before the trip, and decided it would be a good idea to hit the loo before going out in a small boat for who-knows-how-long.

The park bathrooms were in a little structure designed to look like it was going to fall over at any second. The door locks didn't work, the lights weren't working, and the toilets were METAL. COLD METAL- it hadn't warmed up THAT much. Nobody got stuck or walked in on, thankfully.

We made our way down the hill to the launch area. I was kind of expecting our fellow travelers to be a pack of  rich snots from the snooty areas of town. Instead, we had a fairly diverse group, mostly black & Hispanic, and quite a few kids. One little guy, about 3 years old, looked quite dubious about the whole thing, but when I saw him later, on the river, he seemed to be having a blast.

We were fitted for life jackets & paddles and given a briefing on what to do if someone falls into the river (nobody did) and on how to paddle. Then it was time to load up and hit the water. Each canoe held 9 adult sized guests & 1 tour guide. (our boat had 9. the other two had the kids divided up and had 10-12 people plus a guide) Mom & I asked to sit in the middle. We figured we were probably the heaviest on the boat so it made more sense to have us there to keep the weight balanced, plus the seats were wide enough for us to sit together. Getting in wasn't so bad. There was even enough room for my long legs!

Quick note on the canoes- they weren't the traditional canoes with sloping bottoms where you sat single file. These were custom built for groups, so passengers could sit 2-3 abreast, and had flat bottoms. Our guide told us that they were individually hand-crafted from reclaimed wood for their company and cost $4-6K each. Dillon, our guide, turned out to be from North Dakota so my ND-born mother was thrilled to chat with him about "home."

We started off paddling upstream, against the current. It was much easier than expected, especially once we worked out a rhythm to keep everyone paddling in sync. Well, mostly in sync. I always thought of the Ohio River as being fairly dirty & polluted, but the area we were in was quite clean & pleasant. The highlight of the ride was seeing several blue herons in flight. They skimmed over the water to sit on the shore and watch us.

I managed to paddle most of the way out & back. My back started spasming about halfway out, and my knees ached in sympathy. But I held on and was rather proud of myself for doing it. The trip back downstream was much easier, since we were going with the current. Then came the tricky part- Getting OUT of the canoe. It wasn't pretty or graceful, but I managed to finally lever myself up & out without hurting the guides who were trying to help me, tipping the canoe, or knocking Mom overboard. We limped back up the hill to turn in our paddles & life jackets and chatted with the city councilman & park representative whose offices sponsored the event. Mom exchanged contact info with 2 ladies from our canoe who worked for a non-profit organziation and were looking for volunteers. 

The third and greatest miracle? I was in a good bit of pain by the time I got home. Mom & I went shopping & had dinner at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants before she dropped me off. I took some aspirin (since my doctor refuses to give me REAL pain medication for my back) and a long nap. I woke up and staggered out to the living room...and then realized that I wasn't in nearly as much pain as I thought I would be. Then I thought, "oh, it'll hit me tomorrow." It didn't. I was fine! Well, as fine as I get.

So, despite the fact that fat people with bad backs & knees should probably NOT go canoeing, I had a really good time. They said they were coming back next year. We're going to keep our eyes out for that and go again!

A Surrey State of Affairs- Ceri Radford

I liked this one. Mind you, it was slightly predictable, but it was a fun light read. Especially for those of us with a fondness for British chick lit.

Constance is a middle aged woman whose life revolves around her family and her bell-ringing society and the blog where she records the goings on. She battles with her Lithuanian housekeeper, and makes several attempts at match-making for her children and acquaintances with spectacularly bad results. She doesn't understand her son at all, and her daughter drives her to the brink of despair by joining the cast of an awful reality show before running off with her husband's best friend.

The affair with the father's friend sends Constance's life into a major tailspin. Her husband becomes the target of a police investigation, admits to an affair, and they separate for a time while on a South American vacation. Constance throws caution to the wind and has the adventure of a lifetime traveling by herself for a time, and there is an ultimately happy ending.

Best Friends, Occasional Enemies- Lisa Scottoline & Francesca Serritella

I have never read Lisa Scottoline's mysteries. I need to, and will get to them one of these days. But after reading her essay collection Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog, I realized that this was a woman I could love! Daughter Francesca collaborates on this third collection, and it's just as funny to me as the original. I see many echoes of my relationship with my own mother in  their writing.

Take these quotes for example:

Francesca on Apartment Living - When I saw a mouse, the first person I called was Mom. She told me to call my super, but I felt bad bothering him. I hate to bother people. But I love to bother my mother.


Lisa on Things Every Daughter Should Know - Your mother is always thinking about you, but that’s not creepy. Your mother will never forget who did you dirty in the sixth grade, for which you can thank her. And your mother will never stop asking you if you need to go to the bathroom, before you leave the house. Well, do you?





Then I read the Battle of the Green Jacket and really got hysterical. Having had a life-long aversion to Mommy & Me outfits, I can totally understand Francesca's reaction to her mother buying the exact same jacket she bought and wanting to wear it at the same time. My mother and I rarely exhibit the same taste in clothes, but when we do, it seems that we inevitably wind up wearing them out in public together. My mom loves it. I do not. But I feel better knowing I'm not alone!