Off the rails on a crazy train

I was lame and didn’t blog about my dear old Ma on Mother’s Day. Hoping the ‘better late than never’ sentiment applies...

If you know my mom and I in real life, then you know that we’re pretty tight, and also freakishly similar. I’m glad that I have always taken it as a compliment when people remark on our shared personality traits, or my adolescence would have been insufferable.

I’ve mentioned before that my mom likes to make up her own words and pass them off in casual conversation- which has often lead to many fits of hysterical laughter when I repeat them unknowingly around my friends.

Last year while wrapping a gift, I tore the paper and had to tape it back into place. It looked a little shitty but I left it, knowing it was going to be ripped open an hour later anyway.

“Alexsonder Good-E-Nof” I said in a slight Eastern European accent after surveying the damage.

“EXCUSE ME?!” was Joel’s response.

It turns out that not everyone’s mom calls satisfactory things by the name of a fake Bulgarian diplomat. Seriously, who knew?

In 40 years when my brothers and I remember our childhoods I know we’ll think of her much-deserved rise up the corporate ladder and her dedication to attending every sporting event and dance competition on our family calendar. Mostly though, I know we’ll remember her coming up the stairs yelling out our goofy 10-syllable nicknames (Gina-Bo-Bina-Lo-Lina-Fo-Fina is mine...) in a sing song voice at 7 AM.

Once, a new-ish friend said to me, “I was NEVER weird before I met you.” I relayed this on to my mom, saying “You made me this way.”

She shrugged and said unapologetically, “Well yeah, but what’s the fun in being normal?"