Living Proof

There's a saying and I think it goes, "No one can offend you without your permission." I easily give away my "offended card" and chuck it up to just one of those silly events. More and more, I have been developing strength -- developing my spiritual muscle, so to speak. I have been trying so hard to maintain calmness even when those around me are explosive. But, I'm human and I can only take so much. That's not an excuse though. I can do better. Every single day, I pray and meditate on God giving me the strength to 'keep it together' when someone attacks me -- to remain quiet -- at peace. When someone pushes you to your limits, sometimes it's all you can do to just remain in your 'zen moment'. Perhaps a different approach needs to be taken, like what Joel Osteen said during his sermon this past Sunday. He was stating that you should put your walls up. He said, "Let them talk about you -- you must be someone of worth to have t...

Every family has their little secrets. Some are 'skeletons in the closet' type of secrets, and some are well, just to hide the little insanities that brew within. I'll start out by saying I love my mom. I'm definitely a "mama's girl", and at the risk of being yelled at, I have to come out and let others know about her little quirks. (I have mine as well which I will list.)  I wasn't going to write about this until I paid her a little visit this morning while my oldest sister was there enjoying coffee and muffins with her. We started talking about how the in laws on my sister's side loves our family and thinks we're "normal", compared to what they have seen. We're quite the opposite and very dysfunctional in a way which I wouldn't change one thing about it. I find it a blessing. It gives us hours of laughter. When I walked inside the kitchen area, mom and my sis offered me a muffin. My mom keeps a pile of little paper plate...

Holiday fiasco and chaos has officially started this year. Dysfunctional family drama has risen to its peak and everyone and their mother is getting sick so let the games begin. As I sit and type this, I’m wondering if my flu-like symptoms are the result of the swine, the seasonal, a cold or just plain allergies. I called up my doctor’s office and asked them if there was any protocol regarding me walking in not knowing if I had the swine or not. “Should I wear a mask just in case?” They just laughed and said, “Naw, you’ll be fine.” I know I can be a bit narcissistic, but I was really asking for   the safety of  the patients I’ll be sneezing on. “Nawww, you’ll be fine.” Great - let’s see how many people we can infect so we can wash this thing clear off the board and call it a day. Idiots. While I sit here mutating, waiting for my noon appointment, my neighbor Parveen has been ridden of the swine flu for the past week or so. I keep texting her, asking her all sorts of ques...

(Actual photo of dad's lobsters.) Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to be spending time with the family this Christmas, however, there are a few quirks that need adjusting on many levels when it comes to the whole “Christmas festivities”, which happens to fall on Christmas Eve for us. The entire family rounds up at my parents’ house at 7pm. Every single year, my father makes the feast of 7 fishes, because it’s basically the Italian tradition. During the course of a decade, one by one, each family member has begun to start the process of developing some type of allergy to shellfish. My father, being the retired owner of a fish market down on South Street Seaport in New York---he wouldn’t have Christmas any other way. Fish was it. That was the permanent menu from now on. We don’t know any other way. The first sister to develop a shellfish allergy had the worst reaction of all. She literally blew up like a tick and her throat closed up. She had to be sent to the emergency room. Now, be...