Family Relationships Blog Day from WOW – Women on Writing

“Today I’m participating in a mass blogging! WOW! Women On Writing has gathered a group of blogging buddies to write about family relationships. Why family relationships? We’re celebrating the release of Therese Walsh’s debut novel today. The Last Will of Moira Leahy, (Random House, October 13, 2009) is about a mysterious journey that helps a woman learn more about herself and her twin, whom she lost when they were teenagers. Visit The Muffin (http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/blog.html) to read what Therese has to say about family relationships and view the list of all my blogging buddies. And make sure you visit Therese’s website (http://www.theresewalsh.com) to find out more about the author.”

In honor of the WOW blog, todays post is a short but very sweet one.

My son and I were cooking this morning, it’s an activity that we do as often as we can in my small kitchen. Below is the picture I snapped while he was trying to imitate mommy mixing the lasagna. Too cute. Enjoy.

Curling Up With A Good Book

I took last weekend and stayed home. And when I say stayed home…I MEAN stayed home. I had done any errands previously during the week and purposely kept my schedule open on the weekend to do nothing except relax. I don’t recall ever leaving the house.

As I thought about what I should do with my 48 hours of free time, I could feel an unspoken and understood longing emanating from my bookshelves. I casually strolled over and inhaled. I adore the smell of books. That delicious scent of a book’s binding, and the way that the pages unintentionally take on the smell of their surroundings lures me close to their silhouettes every time.

I ran my fingers over each title as I read it and carefully chose the one that best danced off my tongue.

I vowed silently to myself to only rise from the couch to eat, sleep, drink, and go to the bathroom. Other than that, I wanted nothing more than to sit and curl up with my literary find. If you visit my blog frequently, you are more than aware that my love for reading and writing overpowers most everything that I do. So naturally, choosing a weekend to do nothing with would wontedly lead me to one or the other.

To read with nothing but silence around you is exhilarating. I get completely enveloped not only in the book, it’s plot, and the characters, but also in myself. I reflect on my weak areas as well as my strong points. I sometimes see myself in the characters and can’t help but wonder “what if?”

I read and read. I didn’t even turn the TV on. It was fantastic. It was magical. It was rejuvenating.

Try it sometime.

Father’s Day

For as far back as I can remember,  my dad was awesome. He was always there for my brother and I, fixing our bikes, or getting dirty in the sand box with us. He was a fantastic father, and he still is.

I’m turning thirty in a few days, and I have to admit that it wasn’t until my early to mid twenties that I truly appreciated my parents. I finally understood all they gave up so that their children never had to go without. I’ve also realized that I’ve learned so much from each parent.

From my mother, I learned to appreciate being a woman, how to be my own person, how to be a fantastic mother to my son, to follow my dreams, and to live my dreams. Mommy taught me that in order to become someone, you have to be someone first. Find out who you are, be comfortable in your own skin and with yourself, and never listen when someone tells you you’re not good enough or that you may not make it. While I was growing up, she showed me time and time again that a mother’s love was powerful, life giving, unbreakable, and most importantly, that it was unconditional.

But so much of the person that I am today is also because I had a loving father in my life. Dad taught me how to ride a bike, how to mow a lawn, plant and maintain a garden, be a woman that respects herself, be a daughter, be a role model to my son, and most importantly, my dad taught me to how be independent. He told me to never rely on anyone to get what you want. If I wanted something, I simply achieved it. There was no failing, dad said it simply wasn’t an option.

Having a father’s love surround you when your a female is something that’s hard to describe. It gives you such a sense of being wanted, of being adored, and respected. I was never afraid of anything with my dad around. The fact that he was a big Italian guy that had a permanent puss on his face was enough to scare people in the other direction anyway. But just his presence around me made me feel invincible. I felt I could move mountains if I wanted to.

I am the woman and mother I am today thanks to both of my parents. But it is because of my father that I am a strong and absolute female. A father’s love and attention cannot be replaced. And having that strong fatherly shoulder to cry on when your young and adolescent years flash before you means more to a daughter than any boyfriend ever will. I learned that when it came time for me to find a man in my life that I had no other choice but to emulate my father. After all, he was the only male authority figure that I had to go on…that I had to clone.

I enjoy manly men, thanks to my dad. I love a dirty guy – an auto mechanic, a construction foreman. But I also love an authoritative gentleman, a man that knows what he wants. A handsome fellow in an Armani suit and tie grabs my attention as well as any bookstore. My father was the man I wanted to duplicate because I had so much respect for him.

Father’s Day is a wonderful chance to say thanks to the man in your life that picked you up when you fell. The man that held out his hand for a firm handshake when your boyfriends came to pick you up for your dates. But most of all, the man that you have enough respect for to call Dad.

Thanks to my dad, and also to my mom, for making me the center of their world.

Please share your stories, my readers and I would love to hear them.

A Writer’s Thoughts

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling, like dew, upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.”  - Lord Byron -

It’s no secret that I’m a Byron (and a Poe) fan. His above quote ignites a rush of ideas that have been nesting within my loins, simply screaming to be written down. I think it’s the same for every writer that lands upon whatever it is that gives them inspiration. Be it the flowers outside, the birds singing their harmonic tunes, or the gentle breeze that ruffles the fall leaves, inspiration is all around us.

For me, inspiration speaks in forms of words, quotes, colors, sounds, and writing. I find that simply reading calms my soul. When it’s so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, the silence itself is astounding. I’ve always been a fan of solitude. Not just for the fact that I get to know myself, but also because silence speaks volumes without saying a thing. Cliche, I know…but true nonetheless.

So when writers begin writing, whatever it is they may be thinking of at that moment, something magical happens. Ideas mix with feelings and words intermingle with dreams, all producing a masterpiece that now has bore an audience. Once words amalgamate with paper, a story is given new life. Characters find friends, mothers bare children, men become fathers, and something that just a moment ago was nothing…now has been given a voice. And sing it shall, just you watch.

A single word, sentence, or paragraph means a world of difference from one person to the next. You may read a story and gain nothing, while the person next to you reads the same story and allows for the tears of their triumphs to rain down. Words are powerful, life giving, and tremendous. And never underestimate their influence over complete strangers.

I doubt that when iconic writers such as Byron, Poe, Melville, and Shakespeare were penning their thoughts, they allowed room for an audience. From studying them through college and on my own, I’ve learned that all the aforementioned wrote because their souls commanded it. Poe wrote The Raven inside a farmhouse while battling depression. I’m sure he highly doubted it would reach publication, let alone be canonized in high school and college classrooms today.

For all of you that are writers presently, and for all of you that are scared to write down your thoughts, my advice to you would simply be to WRITE. Write more…never less.  Whatever lives in your thoughts needs to be authored. It needs a home among the greatest literary geniuses that continue to live on today through their writing. Find the courage to start a journal, a blog, or even a book. You never know whose life you may change simply because they took the time to read your persuasions.

Please, share your writing thoughts. I admire other people’s determination when it comes to writing.