Saturday, November 24, 2007

Thinking Out Loud

Well I suppose in order for there to be balance there must be good with the bad, huh? First, I’ll start with the good. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with my family, with the exception of my brother’s absence, as his station was called to southern California in case there were anymore fire outbreaks. I have a small family, so celebrations are generally intimate and relatively quiet. Certainly my sister-in-law who comes from a larger family brings the loud excitement into the household, which we all welcome and enjoy, yet somehow enjoy the solitude once she leaves. No offense to her, it’s just sometimes it’s a bit much. Again, with all that being said we had a wonderful time, alhamdullilah.

Now for the flipside. I decided to call my grandmother (mom’s mom) who lives in southern California. She’s 86 years old and still lives on her own, alhamdullilah. Our families (grandmother and mom) have never been close---apparently there’s some issues between the mother and daughter that have gone all these years unresolved, which I can only continue to pray get resolved before either of them depart this planet, inshallah. Even though there’s not much closeness with our families, I still try to remain in contact through holidays, special occassions, etc. So, on Thanksgiving day I decided to call grandma and wish her a “happy thanksgiving”. She never answers her phone---it always goes to voicemail for her to listen to whose calling. So, I identify myself and continue to leave small talk on her voicemail until she picks up as I know this is her routine. She answers the phone so cheery and pleased to hear from me. She tells me her plans for the day and what she’s been up too. She then ask me if I’m getting ready to go to Jr’s, to which I just kind of blow off to perhaps her being a little confused because Jr is my cousin. Then she says, ‘well you know how your mom is with her lead foot”, and laughs. I quickly realize she thinks I’m my cousin, Kim. I tell her this isn’t Kim, grandma, it’s me, Ibeebarbie. “Oh, oh I’m so sorry”, she says. Instantly her tone changes, almost a little meloncoholish, which I find interesting, and then our conversation goes something like this. She ask in a somber tone how Amira and I are doing, to which I respond we are doing well. “Oh good, glad to hear it”. “I’ve been getting along ok, you know aches and pains and such”, she says. Then as if this isn’t a strange enough conversation she says, “so, did you find a man yet?” “No grandma, I haven’t”, I said. “Are you sure? What’s wrong?”, says she. “I don’t know grandma, just hasn’t happened yet.” “Oh, ok, so are you still dancing?”, ask she. “Yes grandma and so is Amira---she’s really enjoying it.” “Oh that’s nice. Have you lost any weight?”, ask her. At this point, I’m anxious to get off the phone because I’m tired of this crap as it always comes along with holidays and family stuff. We end our call with love for one another.

Get to my folks, and my dad starts in with “did you do something different with your hair?”. “No, dad. Just curled it.” “Oh”, with a smirk on his face…”it kind of looks like Hedy Lamarr's”, to which he starts laughing. Feeling so great about myself already because I have two strikes according to grandma because I don’t have a man and I haven’t lost weight dancing, now feeling the third strike cross the plate I’m being laughed at about my hair. Oh good grief---we still have Christmas and New Year’s to get through.

Quotes by Hedy Lamarr
"Any girl can be glamoous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid." Now, doesn't that seem like something to strive for?

"If you use your imagination, you can look at any actress and see her nude, I hope to make you use your imagination." Good grief! I have a pretty good imagination, but I can't get past that HAIR. I swear mine doesn't look like the one in the picture. LOL

Anyway, I'm still thankful for all God has bestowed upon Amira and I's lives, alhamdullilah.

6 comments:

Benghazi Citizen said...

Families are the same every where..some times u can't understand the complexity of the relationships,so u decide to give up trying to under stand and do what u have to do,,,this is how i deal with it any way...
Never give up,,always do the thing u believe is right...
May God help them go over their differences
Regards

Anonymous said...

Talking about dancing.

Mad Hot Ballroom www.paramountvantage.com/madhot/


Two years ago I took my kids to watch this movie at movie theater, they did not know what they were watching till the movie started. You will enjoy it very much as it is an excellent documentary. I recommend every parent to watch this movie with their kids.

MusicLover

Unknown said...

you are cute and lovely the way you are, at least there is one living creature thousand miles away and still can touch ur beauty and that is me ... cheer up ..lol

even if u could't find some one to appreciate ur hard effort to melt the ice between ur family memmbers, be sure that there is one who really do and that is ALLAH ....

dusk till dawn said...

salam ibee
its great to see u had a lovely thanksgiven hiliday, ur rite abt the fire it was abig one in LA ,i never knew ur brother is a fireman ha ha,
abt family digging their feet in in ur private life thats normal thing, u get on wt ur dancing and have fun.u got Amira by ur side and body guard ha ha

on the edge said...

Thanks for the comment on my blog btw . I love yours and look fwd to more reading . As a "older" person , mother of 3 adult children , one grand baby , I find my self saying stupid things to my kids or daughter in law that really sound a lot different from what I mean , lol !Or later I think what in the world ever made me say that ? But Allah bless you for trying to bridge the gaps in the family .Do whatever is joyous to you as long as it is good , and you will reap the blessings .

ibeebarbie said...

Salam Benghazi Citizen,
Thank you. I, too, pray for them to work through their differences with Allah's assistance, inshallah.

Salam MusicLover,
Sounds like a good movie--will have to check it out, along with the other suggested movies you mentioned. Hmmmmmmmmm, wondering if you should start your own blog as our area movie critic/advsisor...hint, hint, hint. :-)

Salam Enlightened Spirit,
I knew there was a kindred spirited sister of mine out there. ;-) You are absolutely right---what I appear to be in front of Allah's eyes is all that matters, inshallah.

Salam Dusk Till Dawn,
Yep, brother is a captain with the forestry department--you can find more information out on this in previous post----A Tale of Two Women series. ;-)

Salam On the Edge,
Thank you and welcome to this humble blog. I do the same sometimes and say things later I think, "what in the world?" As my dad would say, "oooops, my tongue got in front of my eye teeth and I couldn't see what I was saying"...LOL