Always around my birthday I tend to get a bit more emotional than usual. The reason? I'm adopted. So I'm left thinking about my biological mother around this time and I reflect on my two pregnancies, and wonder what she's thinking.
I've never been angry about the choice her and my father made. It's a tough one and I even struggled with making the same choice with my son when I got knocked up at 14. I know deep down they made the right choice. They were unable to care for me. I was very unexpected and they were young. She had just had another kid right before me and they were struggling to get by. My BioMom was not working, and my BioDad was working a night shift at a local radio station in Texas and from what I was told, not bring home much money. All my life I've tried to not be a burden to anyone - and I would have hated to be another....not burden. I just would have never wanted to add to the struggle they were already in. I've lived a similar struggle and would never wish that upon anyone else.
I've come to terms with being adopted. I think I did so at a very young age. My family (or at least my Mom) was very open with the fact I was adopted as far back as I can remember. To be honest I do feel very blessed to have been placed with such a wonderful family. This was my path and I love my family and the people that I know because of the fact I ended up where I am. I have two wonderful children, a very supportive Dad and family and of course, my darling P. I've learned life lessons in this life (thus far) that I was put into.
As I got older though, it was made clear that they wanted no contact from me at all and I respect that. I went to the lawyer that handled my adoption in my late teens to see if I could find them if I wanted and honestly, I don't think I would be able to in the end. What would I say really?
Emotionally though, it's rough. I worry and wonder if she ever feels bad. In my heart I just want the chance to say, it's fine. I understand, respect and thank you with all my heart for making that choice for me. I want her to know I've never been angry with the choice. It's never hurt me in any shape or form. In the end she may harbor no guilt and not think of me at all. But as a Mom myself, it's hard to think that.
The whole beauty of being a ladyface and having a baby inside your womb is this unbreakable bond that you can grow with a child while you are pregnant. You get to know this little creature inside you and for most of us we get to live life with that little being for eternity. I couldn't even begin to imagine having a baby living with me for 9 months and then not taking care of it. Or at least knowing that it's ok.
To be honest - I know my thoughts are of the best... thinking that she's out there somewhere thinking about me. Wondering how I turned out. Thinking.... does she look like me? Does she look like my other kids? What is she doing? Those are the questions I'd love to answer for my BioFam. Of course a health history wouldn't hurt in my current medical condition either. On the flip side I'm also willing to put a hold onto the fact that she just might not give a frak at all. Don't worry, I think of both sides of the coin.
So to BioMom. Thank you. You gave me the gift of life and the gift of a life with my family that I wouldn't trade for a million dollars. I wonder if the twinge in my heart I get every once in awhile is you thinking about me. When I go to Texas I think of you and wonder if the woman I'm passing in the street is you. I want you to never feel bad or like you made a mistake about the choice you made. You and I won't ever meet in reality, but know that I carry you in my heart and have the respect and love for you like I would my adoptive family. Thank you for putting my wonderful Father into my life - he is my ultimate gift that keeps giving. Thank you for putting me here. I'm fine, and I hope you are as well. Your Baby M as I was called in the hospital, and while I was in foster care waiting to be placed with my family is fine. Because of you I am the person I am today - and for that I'm eternally grateful.
Friday, August 7, 2009
I'm the youngest of three. Two WAY older brothers. My parents adopted me when I was six months old. I, am an a-typical baby of the family. I think it drives my "brothers-two" crazy. But. Eff that.
My mom passed away when I was 11. So from that point in it was my Dad and I. I remember trying to make him a roast a few days after Mom had died, and it tasted like ass I'm sure, but he ate it anyways.
He took such good care of me. When you are a girl in your hormonal years it's hard to not have a mom around. and. stopping capping stuff. too tired. anyhow. he took such good care of me, learned how to cook, dealt with my 12 year old depression and wrote me notes so i didnt have to go to normal school, i just hung in the library because i was so confused as to why my mom had to leave us. from that point on i grew into a teenager who made bad choices. i was naughty, im not going to lie. i did drugs. had sex. got knocked up, at the age of 14.
he had my back.... the second that he found out his first grandchild was going to be a boy...aka, michael. he stepped in and took care of us. he never made me feel bad and him and i, two peas in a pod. he helped me with michael so much and tried his best to teach me how to be a mom. it helped i had a friend with a mom. who kinda helped me figure out the whole mom thing. it was hard.
but i wont kid, it was hard to not have a mom.
lets skip a few years. more bad meme stuff. he stood by my side. even when i moved out to live with someone that he didnt approve of. when i lived up in marysville we talked every night. but. we hardly saw each other for 7 years. but, when i needed help he always did.
he's had many medical problems over the last 10 years. strokes, heart attacks, multiple surgeries to repair internal bleeding, had part of his intestines taken out twice. which didnt help much. each time, i was in there like a first born. making sure doctors were making the right choice.
he continued to live his retirement life. cruises, trips to amazing places. he lived his life. ive been so happy for him that he's been able to do that.
so here we are. in the present. he is ill, in another country. this is where my manic self can come in. everything going on is not under my control. i want to be there helping. i want to fix this. in short, i dont want him to die. i want to talk to the doctors, i want to tell them what to do.
now i know that this will happen eventually. he's gonna pass away someday. but. in my mind, im crazy enough to think he'll live forevers.
in the last week, i've come to terms with a lot. but. the thought of not having my best friend aka father in my life has been killing me. i do what i can from here. make calls and have friends make calls to help me.
in short, dad, i adore you. please never die. your daughter will loose her shit if you do. dont worry, im researching how to turn you into a robot so we dont have to deal with this anymore. in the meantime, hang in there. i love you. you have my heart.
If this dosent move your soul, then you don't have one. I miss him. So so much. *sigh*
I can't sleep. This is a disaster in waiting.
Music purge over. I normally try and put more uh. Solid stuff up but. It just felt right.
This is enought to make me miss Trent Reznor in advance. And pray that he continues with music in some form.
I can't embed this for some reason. Man! This is one of the best songs out there right now. major lazer - hold the line
Coldpay covering Michael Jackson... I was supposed to be at this show, but I decided that I really hate Coldplay more than life.
I dont think I need to say anything more than. Tori Amos - Seattle. Most amazing show ever.
Monday, July 6, 2009
When it comes to terms with the internet in some situations I've always wondered, how much is too much? We are all so digitally in twined with one another. It's like the scene with Drew Barrymore in "He's Just Not That Into You" where she lists off all the networking sites and electronic options this man she is "seeing" (fucking? who knows I barely watched the movie!) has to reject her. A lot of us communicate via Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Email, Texting, Twitter and LinkedIn. Of course every once and awhile we'll meet face to face or have a random phone conversation. But, are we really relying on technology to have relationships too much?
This is why I asked. When I joined Twitter (aka Mecca) last year I was of course jumping on the bandwagon to see what it was about. I tried it out.. and at first I couldn't understand what to @ someone was and OMFG why do these people care. In the end I gave up. For some reason I logged back in again and started actually attempting to use it. For someone who has had personal websites and you know, even a LiveJournal (remember those?) I was not going to let this thing called Twitter get the best of me.
The damnest thing happened. I met people. People that I know in real life now. People that make me laugh when I need it, people I make laugh when they need it and honestly, people who I share a real connection with and some days don't know what I did without.
Now, here is where the whole over connected thing comes into play. My significant other is someone who doesn’t really do the whole social networking thing. It doesn’t make sense to him and you know, I respect that. To him it's almost an OCD like behavior to have my phone with me at all times and be checking Twitter. Which really, to me it's like I'm just checking in on my peeps. A lot of whom I know outside of Twitter now and even have lunch with on a regular basis. Of course I've wound down my usage pretty significantly and attempt to not check it (as) often when we are with one another. A Twitter friend calls time like this bubble time, I call it torture.
So. I use Twitter a lot at work and I've really tried to explain it to people. But. Do I want them to know? Do I want them to see my endless whining and complaining about whatever or about how I'm going to get pho? Eff no. There seems to be this invisible line that is drawn between the Twitter and Non-Twitter people in my life (Obviously the Twitter people are better, and low matainance) and I've even found myself telling people on Twitter more stuff than people than I know and speak with on a regular basis. Is there something wrong with this? I think not. Especially since I hate most people! Just kidding.... KINDA.
To me it's just amazing that something as small as a 140 semi-paragraph can build friendships that are omg! Meaningful. We can manage to get each other though some tough times... SO DAMMIT WE ARE GONNA SAVE #IRAN.
I tend to try and find the whimsy in life. I mean really in this day and age its hard to not try and look on the so-called bright side. If I don't I get caught up in the news and I somehow talk myself into thinking I'm going to die of Swine Flu and SARS. I'm not joking -- I wish I was.
Making use of public transportation is something I do on a regular basis. To/from work or to just save on excessive parking. Its just easier for me, and its a big plus to not have to cry over being raped for parking downtown. Really, 14 bucks for 9 hours!? For that much you'd better wash and clean out my car. Shoot. Obama, hook a sister up.
For some bussing it can be considered unreasonable, gross, not cool...etc. Cuz, its so much cooler to not be able to be in the HOV lane and be screaming at the person in front of you. Oh and to waste money on parking and gas... Yeah funtimes. But I realize for some people its just comfort. I give myself a high five when I get on a bus with a/c on a hot day, or a bus that won't breakdown in Belltown on my way to Queen Anne due to snow. I'm still in therapy trying to forget that disaster.
Anyhow. What does this have to do with yanno. Wimsey? Well. This is where the crazy comes out. Or at least me making the best of the situation. Or trying to entertain myself to the best of my ability.
Those who *know* me, understand that I have a love for music that cannot be surpassed and if I wasn't with someone who appreciated it as much as I did, I would say music is my boyfriend (cue CSS, if you get that, I love you). If you were to cut me I'd bleed cds and Ipods. I think I was ment to be with a musician in a way. Music appreciation can win me over. Jeff Buckley on a first date helps as well.
I take this time on the bus to listen to music and I find downtown Seattle turning into Bjorks "its oh so quiet" video.
Or even the scene in Kevin Smiths "Clerks 2".
People walking and dancing to the music. Doing dances with umbrellas and shit. Or really people just walking to the beat of what I happen to be listening to. In my head its the soundtrack to my day, and the people I see around me just happen to be a part of it all.
Maybe its the city, it makes me happy. I just picture everyone walking around listening to the amazing song I am and enjoying it as much as I do.
Of course, it would be great if they could break into song and dance just for me. So if you see me on the 2X or the 13, smile and do a little jig for me, ok? We'll be friends for life.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Since I'm on a roll I figure I'd explain myself... and the want/need/desire to start another damn blog.
At heart I'm a writer. I have opinions, thoughts..etc like an normal human being and until lately I've had the worst writers block that there is. Like. A brick was blocking my thoughts and you know. Life gets in the way. So I decided to stop. But, my ego says, Meme, start writing again. Your thoughts matter, love. So here I am. I'm attempting to NOT jump onto the blogging bandwagon and I guess I am. Fail. But who gives flying eff.
I've bounced around the internet for almost 10 years now in various forms. Started off with a personal website (way before blogging was the hip thing to do) where I mostly unleashed my teenage mum angst about how awful life was... then it turned into a online portfolio of my photography. Then I stopped. Life happened again. Then I was on Livejournal for awhile. Gave that up.
And here I am. Twitter is what opened the floodgates to me wanting to write again. Even if it's something that only I am going to care about. I'm going to do it. Again. At some point I'm hoping to merge this as part of my photography portfolio. But for now. This is good enough for me. Baby steps!
And thanks Twitter, for making me want to write again. Cuz, sometimes 140 just isn't enough.
I've found myself in a very committed relationship of two years. There are no questions about what either one of us want out of the shindig. It's all very straight to the point and we've been honest since day one. I can only speak for myself and say that when I got into this relationship I was coming out of a real doozy of a situation with my chitlins father. Drama galore. So, I walked into this one with my guard up -- and ready to get fucked over again.
What I've found interesting in the time that we have been together, people have always wondered why things have progressed slowly. Merging lives, children...etc. To us it's always been simple to take it slow and not rush into anything huge. I've found that more damage can be done by rushing into relationship situations than good.
So now I for one (I'm sure he isn't) gets asked questions about things as simple as getting married, having more children... you know. Things that are considered normal for most people to wonder about. But personally these are things that just don't cross my mind at all.
Sure, I have a vagina and I'd love to have a huge wedding and be married. But now I'm at the point where I think what will that do? Not because I'm leery of any part of our situation, but because in my life I've found that a label, or some piece of paper is not going seal the deal. When you love someone, you just love them. That's it! Life for some of us can really be that simple.
So why is it so hard to understand for others? I get that in life we observe other people and what situations they are in but why the harp-ness of a wedding and more kids? I'm sure we're all guilty of asking questions... but why such intrusive questions?
But in the end, this is the thing. I dont want to be met with OMG shock and awe when I say, no. I don't really think we *need* to get married ever, and no, we don't want anymore kids. I have two of my own that are grown and he has none. We have a bit of an age gap (12 years) and we are both at the point in life where we just want things to calm down and enjoy each other. Not start all over and have to worry about diapers...oh and you know, me birthing a baby. No go. This vagina is closed for baby business.
To those who are married and happy or wanting that, it's cool. I get you. This isn't a rant against any of that. Sometimes I just feel like we need to let go of the labels that life tries to force upon us and just do in the end what makes us feel happy/loved/adored.
In the end, all we need to do is make ourselves happy and cut the BS of worrying about what others think. It's a no win situation when that goes down.
So internet, make yourself happy. In whatever shape or form that is. It's all about you, be a selfish bitch or asshole and just do it for yourself. That's what's going to count in the end.
I'm Marie..aka @memelaroo if you are on Twitter. I have weaved my way in and out of the blogging world for nearly 12 years. So here I am. I adore music, my children, my guy and really good makeup. Thats me in a nutshell.