Alphabet Soup

KJ tagged me on this alphabet meme. In a moment of weakness or insanity, I am complying. This has taken me far too long as it is but I basically went with the first word that popped into my head.

A is for ALL grown up, Almost. That could describe me, but I'm talking about my kids. My daughter's 18, my son's 15. I'm more amazed at my son now because he's growing like a weed physically and changing inside even faster.

B is for BLOGGING, of course. And that means getting to know the likes of you and being enriched and entertained by you and laughing with you and doing those little winky thingies.

C is for CHRIS, my first name. Never fully felt comfortable with it (Chris Piss!!!, the teasing would go as a kid). It was like being a Boy Named Sue. When I was calling bingos as a young man, I was nicknamed Basil. Not sure why...

D is for DEPRESSION, a condition that runs here and there through my family tree. It's the boogeyman of life for some and 15-20 per cent of the world's population suffers from it. They shouldn't have to endure society's fear and loathing of them any more than a person who has been stricken by cancer.

E is for EASY, which life sometimes isn't. There's always the temptation to ESCAPE. And you can't. So you might as well ENJOY.

F is for FLATULENCE, a subject I know KJ doesn't like and, therefore, the reason I chose it. My own personal record for longest fart of my lifetime is seven seconds, recorded and timed on an outdoor hockey rink at age 12 or so.

G is for GERRY, my youngest brother. We look a lot alike (poor guy!) and act a lot alike. We spent hundreds of hours playing hockey in our basement growing up and are good buds.

H is for HEART, something I'm coming back to (my own and the overall definition of what having heart is) more and more each day.

I is for I, as in me, and what I want to be.

J is for JALALABAD. Just because I've always loved the name and I've been there.

K is for KAREN, both the one who tagged me on this meme and another who I hurt and left behind.

L is for LOST, something we all have been at one time or another and a place I have been to more times than I would like.

M is for MONICA, my little wisp-of-a-thing daughter who has always been so responsible, so together, so committed to what she wanted to do.

N is for NANNY, my grandma who grew up with us and taught me a lot about how to love and laugh and cook, and who spoiled me rotten and loved it when I teased her to hone my skills for future teasing of females.

O is for ORDINARY, which thankfully I have always considered myself to be.

P is for PYTHON (MONTY), which still brings a laugh to this day. It's also for PAUL, the middle name of my oldest brother Doug, who calls me Kaboobie and once said to me: There is love in silence.

Q is for QUIET, which is what I mostly am, at least comparatively.

R is for REAL, another thing I strive to be.

S is for SISTERS, of which I have three: Lori, Lisa and Shauna. They have taught me many things about life from a feminine perspective. And man, did I tease them growing up...

T is for TAFFY, the golden lab we grew up with.

U is for US, as in me, myself and I. My kids are right there, of course, but not always physically.

V is for VESTIGES -- those last remnants of previous lifetimes -- and continuing to work on leaving them in the past where they belong.

W is for WITHIN WITHOUT, this strange pseudonym I started out with in an unknowing way back in May and which has, strangely, more or less proven to be fairly accurate. And rewarding.

X is for the X FACTOR...and I don't even know what mine is yet.

Y is for saying YES to the challenge to be open-minded about things I could never understand before but which I accept now.

Z is for 'ZIS is ze end.