Sole Focus

News, Views, Rantings & Ramblings by Carey Parrish

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Location: Georgia, United States

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Sunday's Flashback

You might as well say I'm a succar for 70's TV. I have to admit that I loved it. Back in the day, I would watch as much TV as I could and I thoroughly enjoyed every one of the shows that I devoured. Sunday nights were no exception. This was before we had cable. All we had was our aerial antenna and we got three channels, all out of Chattanooga. CBS, ABC, and NBC. You could get PBS on a clear day and if you turned the antenna south you'd get a grainy picture from the Atlanta stations; so we stuck to the ones we got the best.

I digress. Sunday nights were good for TV back then. Especially the shows that made the leap from the 70's into the 80's. I remember the Sunday night CBS lineup well. All In The Family, One Day At A Time, The Jeffersons, and Alice. Alice was one of my favorites. It had Flo and she was the life of the party. Until she got her own spin-off, and I won't go there, but this was when TV shows had those great theme songs and I knew the ones to my favorites by heart. I can still song most of them! Alice had a great theme and it was fitting for a great show. Linda Lavin, Vic Tayback, Beth Howland, Philip McKeon, Diane Ladd, Celia Weston, and of course Polly Holiday. How could you not love a cast that included, at one time or another, the folks who graced this one.

So this is one of the ones that I can still sing happily and hit every note. Ha ha. By the miracle of You Tube, consider it shared. Enjoy.


Flowers For Granny

I miss my Granny. Its been almost six years since she passed away and sometimes I still miss her so badly it hurts. Mother's Day is one of those times when I feel this way. Today was always such a special day for Granny. The whole family would gather in at her house and she would be showered with gifts and flowers and cards. She always bought herself a new dress for the occasion and she'd always have an orchid pinned to her lapel. Granny insisted on cooking for every holiday. I don't think it would have been a holiday to her without it! Mother's Day was no exception. She'd bake a ham and prepare some side dishes and desserts while my mom and my aunts provided other things to complete the meal, and we would all have such a wonderful time.

Now that is all just a bundle of memories. The whole clan doesn't get together on holidays anymore. Everybody does their own separate family thing and while it is always nice to be with my folks, Mother's Day isn't the same since Granny went on.

I have a fantastic mother who I adore. She gives unselfishingly and she always makes for us that safe haven to go whenever the world gets a little too difficult. I am proud to honor my Mom every day of the year and having one special day set aside annually to make her feel special is just wonderful. I know now how she must have felt when Granny was living and she got to do the same things that we now do for her. There is no feeling like a mother's love.
Granny was my safe place for a long time. Many years of my life were spent with her and I was so blessed to have her for all the time that I did. She was once my best friend and there is always a part of her that remains alive to me. Sometimes I can still hear her voice if I listen closely enough. She wasn't perfect, and she never claimed to be, but to me she was the epitome of what it was to be a mother. She ran the family with a iron hand but she loved us all so much that none of us can claim to be who we are today without paying her the tribute that she is due. She was a figure of strength. She imparted this gift to us and those of us who chose to accept it are better people for doing so.
Now, in the years since I haven't been able to be with her physically on days like this, I have a little ritual that I carry out to make the day complete for me. It's not anything original or specific only to me, but it's something that gives me pleasure and I know it's also something that she is aware of, wherever she is now, and I hope it gives her pleasure too.
I buy roses, which were one of her favorite flowers, and I take them to the cemetery to put on her grave. I stay there for a few minutes and imagine that we're having a special conversation. I say hello to Papaw too. Then I place my roses in the vase on her monument. Other relatives bring flowers too, but I don't think I could feel that today is Mother's Day if I didn't take my own and have those few minutes there.
It doesn't make me depressed and I don't feel maudlin while I'm doing this either. I know that she is gone and I know that she is with me wherever I am; not just while I'm at the cemetery. I didn't even always buy her roses on Mother's Day when she was here with us. I usually bought her a bottle of her favorite perfume then, but wouldn't that be silly now? Taking a bottle of Estee Lauder's Youth Dew to the cemetery? Ha ha. Yes, that's a little too Stephen King-ish. So I take roses and that makes the day special still.
Flowers for Granny just seems to say it all.
And that is my sole focus for now.

Mom

Wishing a Happy Mother's Day to all our moms and grandmas! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

MOM

Today is your day
The one day we honor you
Yet it seems too little
Just one day
For Mom

You did so much
You gave so much
You still do
You still give

The love never ebbs
On either side
There is no way
To tell you
How much
You really mean
To us

The day is yours
All year long
Every day
No special day
Can give you
What you deserve

For what you have
And what you share
And how much you care
Are all just parts of you

Mom says it all
Not just today
All year long


And this is my sole focus for now.