birth of an icon

admittedly the title is a bit misleading…

…’cause while the recent “death of an icon” bit was about an icon that JUST died, this one is more in celebration of an icon that was NOT just born – unless “JUST” equals “sixty-nine years and one day” ago…’cause yesterday was my Mom’s b-day and this bit is slightly about her.

with the exception of my morning pill regiment and brushing my teeth i won’t drink the water in lockhart. why? not to sound like some nutso conspiracy theorist, but i firmly believe there’s something not right with it. my basis for this is in many ways several years old, although as i think about it as i type this it’s fairly recent as well.

(as the above paragraph made little sense to even me and i’m the one who wrote it, let me explain a bit)

for the last year or so my mother was in a cancer survivor group that met every week. it was a nice social circle for her, and lest the more twisted of you point out that liz clearly didn’t SURVIVE cancer as she’s been in the ground for over thirteen years, technically she DID. she had breast cancer, and to have a mastectomy, and then was cancer-free for a year before the bone cancer set in. TECHNICALLY that makes her a survivor, and it’s not like when the bone cancer kicked in they call you a pussy and kick you out or anything…the rules there are a bit more forgiving than that. perhaps it had to do with her always showing up with baked goods? did she not give me credit as I was the one baking them?

hmm…now that i think about it i might have facilitated my mom’s social life in that regard. oh well, i guess i owed her. where was i going with this?

oh yeah – the meetings…

the meetings were typically at my dentist’s house, and mom told me his wife had survived cancer. but then when i showed up i was shocked to find out that i knew almost EVERY woman in her group, having gone to school with one or more of their kids. all women, all in their early to mid-fifties (or younger) and all cancer survivors…or posers wanting cookies and gossip, but i’ll give them the benefit of the doubt here.

all from different neighborhoods, all from different churches, all eating and socializing in separate circles, with the exception of these meetings. that’s when i was CONVINCED it was something in the water here in lockhart.

now let’s take a look at the trauma from last week – the death of my eighteen year old boa constrictor, tish. died of cancer – drank nothing but lockhart water her whole life. so did calum, and he ended up with cancer as well.

fuck all this – copper and the gang are getting switched to ozarka.