Living Proof

How cute are they? Maria and Chris had a wonderful day last Saturday, May 20th. I was so happy to be there to celebrate their union. I'm so glad Maria found a terrific guy who treats well. She deserves that. Yep, that’s me and the runaway bride. She decided to get married after all. (Sorry Maria, had to put that picture up there---the resemblance is uncanny, isn't it? I still think you're prettier than Jennifer Wilbanks though!) The wedding was a blast and the after party was just as good. I was just so thrilled to see my girl get married. She’s finally happy and it shows. There were many interesting moments that I have to keep to myself. Although I would love to share these unique stories, I have to keep my big fat mouth shut due to respect and …umm… that some of these people now have my blog address. Lips are sealed! I will say one thing—I have never seen so much fun and laughter, as well as drama and turmoil in one night. I can mention the bathroom situation though. Yes

Today my close friend that I grew up with is getting married. Maria and I met when we were fourteen years old. We met under different circumstances. My friends were against her friends. We were in art class one day, and everyone was basically at war with one another. Her friends sneered at me—as I tried to ignore them. I thought Maria was ‘one of them’, but she wasn’t. Maria came up to me and said hello. We started talking and telling one another what our plans were for the weekend. “Well, I’m going to this big party tonight! You should go!” Maria said. “Really? I would love to, but my boyfriend is holding this huge party at his house tonight.” “Oh, who’s your boyfriend?” Maria asked. “Rob.” “Rob???” Maria screeched, “That’s the party I’m going to!” We ended up making plans to meet one another. She even slept over my house because I told her my curfew was pretty much lenient. It was as if I found a sister I never knew I had before. The both of us found ourselves spending the aftern

What is it that makes other people think that their religion or beliefs is right —or better? What proof do they have that tells them this is wrong and this is right? Sure you can flip through the bible and read some proverbs, scriptures and passages from history; but why do so many people interpret it in different ways? Why are there so many sectors to Christianity? There are some Christians, like myself, that believes in the basic ‘right and wrong’. Then there are radical extremists who feel they need to pull out parts of a story of the bible and make it abundantly clear to the entire world that this is the worst kind sin! A sin is a sin. When you do something wrong, you generally feel it in your gut; you know it’s not good. It’s whether or not that your conscience lets you stop what you’re doing in order to not let it be a ‘sin’. I believe that your conscience is a gift from God. Not one person is this world can say, “Well that’s a sin and that’s wrong!” No one has that right

Locked into your zone; I’m mesmerized with your eyes, your mouth; the way the words flow out of your beautiful lips. Your eloquence puts me in a calm state of mind; luring me in every day, every hour. Your voice soothes me and your stories make me feel alive. Your ability to share absolutely everything with me without any reservations makes me believe this is real; this is what everyone desires. It’s the way you look at me when you have something on your mind. It’s the way your smile warms my heart. I can read you; I can feel you; I know you. I feel safe with you. You encourage me and most of all, you inspire me. You make me believe I can do anything—even if it seems impossible. Your amazing ability to reach me on every level is astounding. You’re amazing. Every day I learn something new about you. Each day I wonder what you’re thinking, what you’re doing, how you’re feeling and excited to see and hear from you. The anticipation is overwhelming. Completely overtaken by your beauty, yo

It’s always a challenge to decline food from mom. Her little kitchen may be small, but the amount of food that comes rushing out is huge. Everyone always wonders why her food is better than anybody else’s. We try to guess her ingredients or ask her the recipe, but like an old fashioned Italian mama, she refuses to give it up. She’ll tell you the base behind it, like tomatoes, parsley and basil—but stops in her tracks at the most crucial parts. We always say, “Well she made it with love.” And that works for me. It’s worked for me for many, many years—as well as it worked against me as far as keeping my weight down. It’s hard to refuse anything she makes. Mom’s meatballs are out of this world. It’s like a chip; can’t stop at just one. Her meatballs cure all. If you have a headache —“Here have a meatball…” If you’re sad, “Here have a meatball…” Even if you have a stomach ache —“Here have a meatball!” This stuff is magic! And, it really does work. Did mom mess with our minds? Did she ps

My friends forgave me for the AA 12 step program apology post I had written prior to this, and went out with me for a few cocktails last night. And yes, of course I have the pictures for evidence, as always. It started out nice. We were pacing ourselves, socializing and just having a great time. Here’s my friends Jodie and Brianna. They called me up last night and said, “Deb, come on out.” And I never hardly go out on Friday evenings because Madelene has to get up for work early the next day—so Saturday is our out night. Bri was very convincing though. I went by myself to head all the way upstate to join the gang. I think Bri hit the sauce a little earlier in the evening--but that's okay-- we won't say a word. Umm… Bartender! Bartender! Can you stop drinking for five minutes and bring me a beer please? Now I’ve heard of taking a few swings here and there while tending bar, but this girl was ripe. She was ready to party on the job. I was ready with my camera and luckily got a

Vulnerability is a hard trait to show when you’ve been hurt before. Sometimes a person can come off as ‘tough’ or ‘stoned face’ when it comes to revealing how they feel; when in fact, a lot of emotions are flowing through them. There’s a saying, “…Love like you’ve never been hurt before.” I don’t know who quoted that, but it’s a hard rule to live by. Our memory gets stuck in the past sometimes, not letting ourselves be free with the ones we care about the most. Are we scared that every single person is out to hurt us? Why do we think that one person may act like another person from the past? Each person is different—with different feelings. For a lot of us, it’s difficult to trust someone. ‘Well, I’ve heard this story before and it all sounds the same to me’ kind of attitude. Why are we placing blame on the person we’re currently with? Why do we expect everyone that comes into our lives to hurt us? Is it a self-defense mechanism? Or do we choose to close ourselves up and let no one i

It’s that time of year again. We’re preparing to go on vacation at the end of the month. Since we have basically three places we venture off to, it was hard deciding which one to go to this year. We ended up with the final decision of driving to the beach house in the Hamptons. My blood pressure drops immensely when I’m there. The great thing about that place is—you don’t have to step foot out of the house. The beach is right there; almost under the deck at times, but we always head out to try different restaurants and bars. The wineries are amazing as well as all the activities that are available there. I’m not your typical ‘girl’ who loves to shop for clothes. I absolutely hate it. The worst part of it is trying things on. The funhouse mirrors and the bad lighting is enough to make me cringe. I went to the mall the other day because I needed new clothes for this year. I tried on some cargo pants, because they’re great for walking on the beach. You can carry everything in those little

There’s a huge dilemma brewing with my father. He wants to write a book. What’s worse than that is, he wants me to write it for him. I’m working on my second book which includes stories from the past, and how it was to grow up in an “Italian household” clueless to 'suspicious happenings’. He wants to take it a step further and have me interview him. I wanted this to be narrated from my viewpoint as a child growing up. But no, he wants to have a face-to-face interview and place all of his shocking stories in a book for all to see. “Oh come on! Stop with that tawk! She’s not writing that crap in there!” My mother yells from the kitchen. “Whaddya’ tawkin’ about??? This’ll be a top sella’ if she goes tru’ wit’ dis—whaddya’ crazy or sumptin’? Dese’ are all true stories I’m tellin’ ya here!” My father yells out from the living room back over to my mom. My question is, if I display all of his stories in my book—would some wise guy find it? And if they did, would they come after me

No, this is not the chapter taken from my book. I just have to use this title to get my point across. No matter how you lose someone--through a death or through a break up, it’s never easy. For me, it’s a constant battle of obsessive thought patterns. Redundant questions being asked over and over. “Why did they leave? Why did God take them so fast? What did I do to make him/her go away?” Things like that will probably never be answered, but I know that it takes a conscious effort to stop those thought patterns and conclude it with, “There’s a reason for everything.” Why do some people waste three years with someone to just let them go, and others lose their loved ones after fifty years without their proper goodbyes? No one knows the answer to all of this. People go through emotions from sadness, anger, to forgiveness and contentment. “Time heals all.” It’s been said probably a million times. Of course with time, everything seems to fade. You drink too much one night, and no amount of c

Taking another look on how people view homosexuality takes a whole new spin on the hatred and prejudice that takes place in the world. Those people call it ‘walking in love’ and make excuses for their ungodly behavior. They act out in self-defense and call us ‘sinners’ when they have their own sins to deal with. Being a hypocrite and walking in love are two different things. “Everyone who believes in Him is freed from all guilt and declared rigt with God—something the Jewish law (Old Testament) could never do.” ~Acts 13:39 I was watching a documentary "All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise," and was happy to see so many gay families attend this cruise. It focused on the lives of children who were brought up in gay & lesbian households. These children and young adults were all wiser beyond their years. They had so much clarity and acceptance towards everyone. The families would get together and talk about the trials they endured while adopting or going through artifici

It's been a rough few days for me, but I'm back. Instead of writing a funny story or something that had transpired in my life---I am going to share with you an email I received from another blogger. She is Christian--but believes that all gay and lesbians are perverts. Maybe I can get your thoughts on this, regardless if you are in agreement or not. I like to get all different point of views. So please feel free to say what's on your mind and exactly how you feel about this topic. I welcome negative and positive feedback. "Hi Deb, You left a fairly lengthy comment on my blog back in March about homosexual statistics and for some reason blogger never notified me through email and I just stumbled across it the other day. Generally when someone takes so much time to leave a comment I like to respond, so my apologies for not getting back to you sooner. Thanks for taking the time to comment. In the future, feel free to send me an email directly if I don’t respond in