This is so very true.  And I am here today because of my two crazier, older brothers, who roughed me up and taught me how to be tough. Because of them, I know how to fight.. and I’m fighting pretty darn well right about now, when it counts most,  and I sure hope I’m makin’ them proud.

………………

Today is my oldest brother’s  birthday, (Happy Happy Birthday, Beau! or as my kiddos and al the cousins say, “Uncy Beau”) and just 6 weeks after that we’ll be singing Happy b-day to my middle brotha! (So… Happy early B-day Jean!! / “Uncy Jean”!!)  B-days being so close together,  I figured I’d give a little shout out to both of my brothers who really did much to shape me into the gal I am today.

Yup, I’m that one girl.  You taught me to be her.  It’s your fault.

That’s the same reason why you complained that my shoes stunk when I took them off in the car as a kid since I never wore socks (Heck, I rarely wore shoes, so why wear socks?).  ‘Twas the same reason that you said my finger nails were always dirty, and my “Jamz” had holes in them.  Hangin’ with the boys meant climbin’ trees with to scope out sweet spots for mud-bomb attacks on passersby and building your own forts in the woods, only to have your head raided for ticks with tweezers and match sticks at night. Ugh.  (But so worth it) Any readers still with me, or did I just lose a few? Sorry, it just got real for a moment there!

My brothers you see, were just 2 years apart, yet there was an 8 year gap before I was born, and I desperately wanted to be in their “clique”.  They had their own language at the dinner table.  They could finish each other’s sentences.  They were so crazy funny that your stomach hurt from laughing whether or not you had any idea what they even said, but the sound effects and faces that they were making were enough to make you fall off of your chair. Seriously.  I begged to be a part of their daily/weekly home movies that they made with their friends, and as long as I just “stayed cool”, I sometimes got to be in the background, help squirt the ketchup blood, or ride in the hatchback of the civic while spinning donuts for the  peel out stunts or some other super cool scene.  No matter what it was… it was always…. “epic” in my eyes!

I hung on to their every word.  I mean it.  EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. They rambled off complaints prophetic know how that I clearly needed to file away for later.  For example:  When they came off of the school bus: “When you grow up, don’t move your lips too much when you’re old enough to read on a bus one days, because it’ll make your mouth make weird sounds and it’ll be annoying.”  Check!  Added to list when figuring out that darned reading and phonics thing. This was going to get complicated.

Or better yet… the whole boys and girls and dating thing. Oy!  Boy did my file get full there, particularly after coming home from their dates or school dances, or watching movies, or really anything that had to do with the opposite sex…. all opportunities to teach me what to do and not to do!

“Don’t be a bow head”;  “Don’t wear too much makeup or perfume.. & when guys go to pick you up for a date, they hoped that you would look kinda like the same girl that they asked out, ‘cuz they liked THAT girl”;  “Don’t giggle all the time unless you’re actually laughing at a joke, pay attention, don’t be stupid”; 

and my personal favorite…

“Don’t look in wedding magazines unless you have a ring on your finger” (Told to me in the old Delchamps magazine rack aisle by my middle brother, Jean,)  “Why”, I asked (at the ripe age of around 7)…. “Because they’re filled with poisoned bombs that will detonate and explode in your face unless you have an engagement ring on.  It’s very serious,” He says over his shoulder non-chalantly as he flips through a Sports Illustrated magazine now that his work is done and his sister is protected form marriage gleeflully dreaming about marriage too soon.   I slowly stepped backward away from the racks.

 

My brothers, they really do love me.  I carried a heavy burden of the many files of “dos and don’ts” in my brain, that I really did my best to stick to, whether or not I realized it, although they never realized it or asked me to do so.  It was subconsciously written on my soul.  They were raising me, whether they knew it, like it, or not.  And as much as I put up a fuss about them being “punks” and what not, I loved them and thought they were the absolute coolest and greatest guys in the world.  THE WORLD.

If one was throwing bean bags on me and sitting on me while watching Transformers (Ahem… Jean?)

The other was feeding me Tabasco sandwiches and “Light n Crunchy” dog food mixed in my after school snack

(Ahem… Beau?)

Yet, if one… even ONE other person outside of our little family circle had the slightest thought of jumping in on that action, they had another thing comin.  No can do.   I’ll never forget when boys started calling for me.  Oh boy.. oh boy!  My brothers paced the room figuring out what they were gonna do then next time the phone rang. They had it all planned out, plotting and scheming their move.  Well sure enough, it did.  Jean had no quams about picking it up giving it a good “LOOK PAL, IT’S A LITTLE LATE!” and slamming that phone down with now chance for a message, a hello, or even any idea of who it was. It could have been a girl, It could have been a relative.  He didn’t care.  He was on a mission.  The mission…. nobody talks to HIS SISTER!!!!!

Just the way things worked out, at different portions of my high school years, a different brother was able to be there, living near and teaching locally or even living in our apartment right next door… once again keeping a lookout on my dating situation and giving the other brother the scoop and the low down.  Detectives near and far. Always on the Case.  ALWAYS (my teenage self still eye rolling, but secretly loving it).

And now…

We’re all grown up, and Jean has now married his beautiful wife, Janice, and conned her into moving their 5 kiddo-beautiful genius clan down from Canada to raise them with my 5 kiddo-few screws loose clan-tastrophe that we love cuz their uniquely cute and special. YAY!!!! And I thank God every day for the gift of raising our kids together.  My brother, Jean, is such an amazing father and husband that it brings me to tears.  He has really taken the prayers of God the father and shaped himself into everything that He hoped he could be as a present, loving, giving, understanding, AND FUNNY ( I have to add…. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LAUGHING THROUGH THIS WHOLE FIGURING OUT PARENTING THING WITH YOU!!! I truly don’t think I could do this without you), father and husband.  I’m beyond impressed.  It’s VERY cool to see.  GOD IS GOOD.

 

As for my oldest brother, Beau, giver of the name BUNA!!!  Also known to so many of you as “Fr.Beau”.  There’s so much to say, yet it’s so hard to say it all.  You, too have married the love of your life.  You’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for God.  You have a gift for service that has been in you since childhood and a desire to help always, even since you struggled  as to which stuffed animal to leave behind for family trips when you felt bad for the others until slowly but surely all clothes were emptied from the Snoopy suitcase, only to pack up Cookie Monster and all the rest of the gang, figuring you’d rather wear the clothes on your back all week rather than deal with the guilt of leaving them behind.  “No man left behind”!  When you grew up you wanted to be a gas attendant, a rock star, a brain surgeon, a teacher, an actor, a garbage man, a father, and …. finally, a priest.  Well, as a priest, you’re doing it all.  You’re preaching, teaching, healing, singing praise, helping us to get rid of our garbage, and bringing us the holy spirit fuel that we need and leading us as father and leader for so many, guiding and leading flocks to the church.  But you do so with such humility.  Not afraid to admit weakness, not afraid to sho us all how to seek and ask forgiveness and be there to foster that as the most powerful confessor I know, often saying,  “We fall, sometimes we fall hard, but God asks us to get back up.  A true follower of Christ gets back up and carries his cross again.”  You’ve helped me many times to get back up again.  And you’ve helped me TO LAUGH!!!!   And you’ve reminded me of one of my happiest places, my go-to place for prayer… singing.  Singing is praying twice, right? YOU are truly my favorite Praise and Worship LEADER EVER and I don’t think I’m being biased!

Just this January all three of us, got to sing together just before my surgery.  Heaven!

……..

…and the years between us seem like nothing at all.

I mean, check it out…. I made it! I’ve finally arrived to the cool club where we’re all the best of friends.  I knew it.  I knew you loved me.  I mean.. of course you loved me. You had to, because MOM SAID you had to.  But you didn’t have to LIKE me.

And now I’m pretty sure you do.

*Ya see, y’all didn’t HAVE TO keep leaving your cool records out, or your tie dye t-shirts, or Police t-shirts, or star wars figures, or, or, or…..

SEE!  THEY REALLY DO LOVE ME…

 

Even if my arrival may have been a little late in the game and the realm of baby girl was a surprising new, unchartered territory…

 

They embraced me, bumps, bruises and all.  Poppin wheelies with my stroller up and down the street to go and show me off to all their friends and neighbors.  Tough from the beginning, hangin on tight.  …. Still am, right?  Thanks for that, guys.  So many lessons learned that have truly served me well for the long haul.  We had no idea then how well they truly would serve me well.

I’m the proudest little sister ever.

Because I have the two best big brothers … EVER!

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!

 

…

……..

without further adieu…

a funny for you two:

(This i know , a-gain, but its just so fitting)

**CHRISTOPHER WALKEN/ KRISTIEN WIIG SURPRISE PARTY

AND FOR BEAU, WHO BOUGHT THIS, AS HIS VERY FIRST SINGLE WITH HIS OWN MONEY ON HIS 10th BDAY 

THE FIRST RAP OUT THERE… ON HIS B-DAY!

**RAPPER’S DELIGHT OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

 

LOVE YOU BOTH! – BUNA

 

 

So I’m pretty sure that Woody Allen didn’t corner the market on this quote, but since he plays a leading role in yet another cornerstone of my family’s comedy film “go-to” movie collection, then I can’t help but “pin” this little gem.

Yup, I’m pretty sure God finds me pretty hilarious.

(Why? … We’ll come back to my pressing reason #1,802 in just a moment)

I mean, I joke with my hubbie and my kids telling them on a regular basis,

“I could really care less if any of you find me funny.  As long as me, myself, and I are laughing… I’m happy.  ‘Cuz we’re laughin at ourselves all day long!”

It’s true.  Am I crazy? Absolutely.  Am I truly funny? Who cares! I amuse myself in most situations and have no problem laughing when I spaz out and “mess up” either, a talent I acquired at a very young age. Remember, I’m the youngest of 3 with 2 older brothers.  I was a tomboy that learned quick to roll with the punches, not cry or whine much if I got hurt because I’d have to stop playing with my cool older bros, and be patient because Mom was figuring out this whole new back to school again and back to work again thing while juggling 2 teenage boys and one little girl who won’t stop running barefoot out of her theater to go hide in a tree somewhere on campus! (Ya see, my little Firecracker comes to me very naturally!) With all the ups and downs that life brought us, we learned a few things:

………..

1) How to find enough change at the bottom of Mom’s purse (or “waaay back of the station wagon) to order Domino’s from a pay phone during her late rehearsals

2) Shoes are not always essential, in fact I could climb better than a monkey if barefoot

3) Don’t cry over spilled milk. Rather, clean it up and fix another glass. If its gone, have a TAB! (going real old school 80’s on that one. Ha!)

3) Most importantly, we found our FAITH at that time to pull us together, even if it took the next decade or more for us to buck the system and realize God was our “glue”.

and, last, but certainly not least…

4) Laughter is the best medicine. 

…………..

As a kid, probably way younger than when I should have been watching, I sat with my family watching the early days of SNL and laughing ’til my stomach hurt.  That was comedy at its best!  No cheap shots, just real funny stuff!  The Yugoslovian “Wild and Crazy Guys!”, “The Jane Miller Show”, “Mr.Robinson’s Neighborhood”, “The Samurai Chef”, “Landshark”, “Coneheads”, “The Nerds”, and so many more that it’s killing me to stop.  (Sorry, I’m kinda geekin’ out here)  But they’ve given me such great memories and kept me smiling today! I still periodically can’t refrain myself from doing my own “Mr.Bill and Mr.Hand” show when I play with play dough with my kiddos.  I can’t imagine I’m the only little girl who looked up to Gilda Radner as my own personal idol.  She was such a doll!

#RaisedBySNLandProud

And to think that such a charming, witty, beautiful, and hilarious woman had to fight such a terrible fight with cancer.  Unfortunately this brown eyed beauty lost her battle, but left behind a legacy and a positive attitude of wit and joy even in the midst of such struggle that has kept her as my hero even now.

#iLoveGilda

#LostTooSoonLegacyandLaughsNeverForgotten

………………..

So… back to the whole making God laugh thing. I guess I picked up on  a little bit of Gilda’s sense of comedic timing after all, since the Big Guy sure has gotten a kick out of me these days.

My recovery from surgery last week didn’t quite go … as planned.

To make a long story short short-ish:

My surgery happened Monday (planning to go home that day or the next), I had to stay through Wednesday evening to receive blood transfusions, monitor swelling, and give a rather large allotment of pain meds for air in the body cavity/shoulder neck area that really attacked the phrenic nerve. Which basically means no pain meds can help. Can I just say OUCH!!! I mean, I’ve birthed 5 chirrens, had a root canal overseas without anesthesia, had a double mastectomy, nearly a years worth now of chemo, 6 1/2 weeks of skin peeling radiation… and never felt pain like that! Insane! Back and forth between the waves of pain that apparently no med can truly touch, pretty much awakened my inner “Gollum”, which thankfully, left my mouth (for the most part) too tired to truly release its voice from within. EEK!

#iRelateMostToGollumOverTheGracefulElvishWomen

 After almost 24 hours at home , feeling some relief and enjoying my fam, I received a swift kick to the gut from my toddler (Snuggles) and a sudden fever just below 102. (cue a little Debbie Downer… “Womp! Womp!”)… It was back to the ER for me. Oh boy!  After Chest X-rays, CT Scans w contrast, and a whole lot of other blood tests, etc.,  we found old and new blood in my abdomen, excessive air still in my body cavity (hence the pain still goin on), and some pneumonia like infiltrates in my lungs to probably explain the fever.  Oy vey.  Looks like sweet little Snuggles’  just may be a star soccer player, for her kick to my belly actually gave me a tear, got me bleeding again and had ER docs put me on a good long no food, no drink diet to prep me for surgery!  That was until my very wise surgeon and nurse practitioner calmed the situation feeling that bleeding was calming on its own and no surgery would be necessary.  Whew! Talk about a relief! Good ol’ antibiotics would help dry it all up for body to absorb the excess.  Sheesh!

So back to that whole plan of mine to just jump in and jump out of this surgery in a day or so, and be back on my feet in a week and be on my merry way?  … HARDY HAR HAR!!! I could just hear God laughing through each storm that rolled through our little fam this week.  Yet, even in all the pain.  In all the frustration, I still felt no fear, I prayed over and over again….

THIS TOO SHALL PASS

This is surely NOT how I envisioned how this was going to go, or how the doctors and nurses thought it would go, or how my family thought it would go.  It was pretty upsetting to my children when Mommy wasn’t coming home the first night, and the second night, or even going back again after I’d returned home and they’d welcomed me home with a big “Welcome Home!” sign… Only to leave again.  One expressed boldly that she felt abandoned and was mad at me for it.  Talk about break my heart in two. (Sounds a bit dramatic right? And yeah, it was. But at the same time, it was how they felt.  This wasn’t just one surgery, this was one hurdle after many that we keep asking them to hang on for “another, and another, and another…” So this week was big for us.) But we all knew that it couldn’t last forever.  I mean really, we’ve been through so many bigger things than this.  I know this time it hit us when we’ve been in the battle longer and our troops are tired, and ready to be called off from duty. But, I had to reassure them that we’re winning.  And this is just one more time that we’re reworking a new plan to get Mommy better.  And I have every desire to be with them and to get better for them and I will do it.  And it’ll be all over soon. … And each time my kiddos saw me, I was better and better, and so were they.

I gotta say, I’m proud of them. And I’m proud of us.  We rolled with the punches, we took some unexpected hits, but once again, we are on the other side of another battle that we knew was on the list.  It was messier than expected, but we beat it!  How about that?!

And even in the hardest, most painful moments, we’ve found reason to laugh…

Whether it was at

* My feral cat growl, that began low and would slowly crescendo as if to beckon other felines to my quarters…each time I had to move an inch. Lovely, really.

*The “Elmos Potty Time potty” given by my bedside in all my humility.  Mine looked blah and grey as any hospital bedside toilet should, but I couldn’t help but stare at in and go through the entire “Elmo’s Potty Time” Jazzy soundtrack. (Head hung in shame)

*The random stories I interrupted people with out of my anesthesia about “monkeys who need help with their rollerskates”, “my needing to put Cinderella in her ball gown and pretty wig”, and if “anyone else hears the band playing??” (over and over again)

*The way even Snuggles laughs at me even now while still recovering and crawling like a baby like her to get up the stairs when my stomach still cramps up… and the kids finding me “sooo mature!”

or my personal favorite…

*The Hitchcock like irony I found when looking at my super swollen like a 20 week prego women-belly that only me, “Fertile Myrtle” would wake up from a hysterectomy and be pregnant!

…..

Ya see, God may have a sense of humor when it comes to my plans, but I, too, have  sense of humor and can roll with His if needed.  I admit it takes a moment to swallow that pill at times, sometimes this prayer may come in hand

But in all things, it always works out. Why?  Because God’s got me.  He had me all along. He had a plan and His is more of a big picture, while we focus on all these tiny details.  I was pondering on that late one night in the hospital when who should pop up, but my old TV pal (in my mind, she’s my friend… I do believe we’d get a long just perfectly and have so much in common!)from childhood and forever idol, Gilda Radner, when I found this quote of hers while battling cancer herself:

She’s so right.  The Big Guy upstairs said it himself.  We shall not know the day nor the hour.  We are called to live in the present.  So why in the world do we stress ourselves out with all of our plans.  God’s got this.  When they don’t work, no need to stress.  They’re all just minor setbacks.  We adjust and we move forward in faith and trust.  No worries.  Just deep breaths.

Last week was one loooong week, but it’s over now.  Now we merely recover and give thanks.

 ‘Cuz God is good. All the time.

Thank you for all of your prayers

(PHIL 4:6-7…”cast your cares upon the Lord and He will give you a peace and grace beyond understanding”) … And He will!

And there you will find JOY AND LAUGHTER , TO BOOT! 🙂

NEVER STOP LAUGHING!

********

A little tribute to a true comedienne, an idol to me and millions of others.  One of the most charming women to hit the big screen and warm our hearts and make us smile.  She fought the cancer battle, and was determined, that even in her defeat, to find the joy and the laughter there… and somehow to even “make cancer funny”.  That’s what she did, and I admire her and am daily inspired by her now.  I’m so sorry to her loved ones for her loss, but am  eternally grateful to her for her contagious joy and humor that is legendary… helping me and so many others still today. We love you, Gilda.

*Disclaimer: A few “choice words” are dropped here and there in this clip, so fair warning in case young ones are watching over your shoulder (don’t watch with them in the room). But this clip shows both the on and off consistency of Gilda Radner that I just couldn’t pass up.  She as the real deal.

Please CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW to watch this special YouTube Tribute to Gilda Radner

“LOVE GILDA: TRIBUTE TO THE LEGENDARY SNL ORIGINAL’S COMEDY AND LIFE, SYNONYMOUSLY”