Mom's, Mother's, Mama's, & Mimis

It's that time of year again. When we celebrate all that is MOM! We buy gifts, take her to eat, shower her with flowers, cards and hopefully good chocolate. What we don't do is actually tell her how much she means to us & how grateful we are to have her in our lives. I'm not just writing about the female that shoved you out of her womb. There are all sorts of mothers out there that didn't give birth, but their amazing mothers anyway. Grandmothers, aunts, godmothers, sisters or even older friends can and do have a motherly influence on us.

As an adult I understand I hit the lottery jackpot with my mom. When I was a kid, however, whole different story, but then again it's it always?

I've got that rare mom who has supported me from day one, no matter my crazy dream or which direction life tossed me Mom was there to support me. She's propped me up when life threw me down, kicked my butt when I didn't want to make a choice, cried when I was to afraid to break down and loved me through every mistake, award, pitfall, bad review, first sale, loss of a friend, and the death of my fiance.

Most of all Mom never said "I told you so" when she had many chances to do so. Because my Mom is normally always right even when I hate.

Thanks to my Mom's example I learned how to be compassionate, caring, a lover of animals and a mostly decent human being. The faults I claim as my own because to be perfect would make life less interesting.
I've heard it said that you've developed you basic personality by the time you're three. I have no idea if this is true or not, but there must be something to it. My mother's love made me the person I am today.
Lessons My Mother Taught Me
 
My brother, my sister and myself, regardless of how we fight amongst ourselves, will race across a busy freeway to rescue an animal.
Welcome strangers and friends alike to our homes without a thought of what they can do for us.
We share our blessings, money, food or clothes, with our neighbors, friends and church family.
Every child is a miracle to be cherished and loved.
People are to be judged by their actions not the color of their skin or the diety they worship.
Money doesn't create happiness, but it can ease the burden of worry.
When you give your word it's a lasting promise. People with honor, even in this day and age, should act with honor.
Burdens shared lighten the load.
Open our hearts, homes and lives to anyone brought home without caring about background or external apearences.

My Mom is a truly amazing woman. She's lived through things that I could never imagine. She has more strength than any man, but never forgets she's a lady. Her heart is generous and open. Give her expensive chocolates, wine or presents and she's happy. Give her a plant and a little dirt Mom is ecstatic. (A gift I didn't inherit)

I never know how to say thank you for all the gifts she's given me. How do you say I'm grateful to the woman who has given you everything and asked for nothing in return? Everything I am, the person I want to be is tied directly to the way I was raised.

So thank you Mom for being a beautiful woman on the inside as well as out. For living a life I could emulate with pride. You continue to amaze me as you age with grace, beauty and wit.

You truly are a lady!

Werewolves in the Marines!!

Mini-rant in the first paragraph. Sorry I can't help it, but the rest of the blog is all good & all about the sexy thumb challenged shifters :)

So much as come out & gone down in the last week dealing with Bin Laden's death. As I always say politics has no place in the romance world. Unless your hero is a sexy Senator races through the country to save the world :) However the more news stories I watch the more dumbfounded I become. Have we as Americans become so desperate for entertainment that we'll risk our soldiers for our greed? When the news broke Sunday that the terrorist leader was dead all anyone could or would say was that it was a military operation. You know, I was just fine with that info. The bad guy was dead, the good guys made it out okay and everyone gets to go home. Apparently I'm in the minority. Reporters have dug until they discovered what branch of the military went into the actual take-down. Narrowed it down even further to the Seals. Bad enough, right? Then the ego driven idiots NAME the darn team!! And they throw in where the team lives, trains and gathers. To the great shock of...oh no one the next day a pipe bomb was found under the bridge the members of the unit drive on to get to their base. Did anyone but me see this one coming? Really? These men risked everything for their country & people. What do we give them back? A chance to get blown up on their way home to see family & friends. Ackk, this drives me crazy. When will enough be enough? I don't have to know the names of every man and women in the military to pray for them. I don't need to know where they live to be grateful for their sacrifice. I sure as heck don't want their lives endangered because I'm too greedy to leave their private lives private. These are our soldiers, not Hollywood bubble-headed celebrities. We have no rights when it comes to invading their privacy. These heroes have trained for years to do the job they did last Sunday night. Millions have been spent on their education and training. I don't begrudge a cent of it. So let's let them do what they do best. Remain in the shadows, watching our backs and protecting the freedom we daily take for granted.

Now this week in the NYT there was an article about a dog strapped to solider parachuting into the target zone. The dog had its own goggles, breathing mask & emergency chute. Seems the canine was a regular member of the unit and brought along to CYA everyone. If Bin Laden had been hiding this four pawed solider would have sniffed him out and given America a great victory. As it was he stood side by side with the rest of our soldiers, sometimes running ahead to make sure the way was clear.
People, is anyone else thinking secret covert werewolf operation? It's perfect really. Soliders go in under cover or under fur (lol) who's going to pay attention to a dog. But you give a wolf human intelligence under the right circumstances POW & BAM it's like Batman & Robin in Care-Bear suits arrive to safe Gotham City.
Even better we have were-bears & were-tigers train as Navy Seals. Think of the power they'd have. Power only used for good, of course :)
Hmm, were-eagles as scouts. Were-ferrets as spies. Were-whales as underwater mine experts. Oh I could go on and on, but I'll have mercy on you..for now.

Think of all the stories you hear about animals assisting in rescues, bomb sniffing dogs, cat's that predict death, dolphins saving humans from sharks. Really how hard is it to take this one step further?

Now if we have all these good were animals risking their lives to help save the stupidity that is humanity there must be a flip side to the coin, right? Well there is. The most evil base creatures in all of existence is the ...were-frog! That's right frogs! They may look small but the power they hold is legendary. Too bad they use it for the dark side of the Force.

Anyone else have ideas for our friendly neighborhood were creatures?

Three Wicked Writers Plus Two

Forgot to share this in case no one knows. I'm also posting at Three Wicked Writers Plus Two. I've shared my BDSM club experience and misadventures. Various comments have been left that had me laughing until my sides hurt. Very big topic of interest to many many people. Head over there and look it over. Let me know what you think :)

Kudos,
Allie

Misconceptions and other fun things

I loved my parents. They are amazing and my number one fans, but there are problems. My Mom thinks some of the topics I write are odd.

LMAO, umm yes they are. She asked me yesterday what my latest project was & I told her demons. Whoa buddy, she didn't like that at all. "What? Demons are evil. How can you write about those things?" Like my last book didn't include a reincarnated rapist serial killer? Different boats for different folks, I guess.

However, she got me thinking. Does everyone hear the word demon and think EVIL? I never did. For some reason I always pictured these creatures as a different species. I got lucky enough to write on the topic and discovered everyone was wrong including me.

According to the experts...cause there are so many demons running around sharing and all, they are not totally evil or were never bad to begin with. Some were ancient deities or spirits of nature. The connotation of evil in association with the name came from later religious sects that moved into their area.

Ha! So what does that mean? Absolutely nothing other than we let history make our judgments for us without knowing the true source of our prejudice. Funny how things work that way, huh?

Maybe it's boring for the rest of you, but I'm having a grand old time delving into the demonic world. Discovering truth from "fiction" and all that. And it led to more thinking on my part, what if the creatures of fiction we think are bad...aren't. Maybe trolls aren't mean and ugly and giants are stupid. Maybe fairies are hussies who get drunk on flower nectar and pelt innocent humans with acorns?

Oh yeah, my reality is always a fun place to visit. And yes, you can pretty much bet that all the above ideas will be seen in future books as soon as the plots come to me. I love turning fictional worlds upside down.

It's good to be ruler of my world :) Then again no one else will let me rule the real world.

Kudos,
Allie