A Werewolf’s Train To Nowhere

Vampire Maman

The solar eclipse is on Monday, August 21. I’ll be on a beach in Oregon watching it. At the same time it will be my daughter’s first day of college in California. She’ll see it then race off to her first class. It is a busy time in my world, and it will be even busier when I return.

It will be a full moon on Monday too, which always makes me think of Werewolves. For some reason the following story of my past also reminds me of other things going on in the world right now. Odd how the mind and memories work that way.

Right after I’d graduated from college (the first time) from one of the rare Universities (now a well respected and famous school) that accepted women I took a trip across country on a train to meet my brother Val. He’d gone to New York…

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Summer TV Update (with Vampires, guilty pleasures, cooking, movies, AGT, and more)

Vampire Maman

Fall is just around the corner. I know that because I am painfully aware that books for the fall quarter for two college aged kids will run around $1,600 – $2,000, maybe a little less if they are lucky enough to get used books. But on a good note, the summer TV season is still in full swing.

I know I’m not the only person on the planet who is NOT watching Game of Thrones. I was turned off the first season by all of the gratuitous doggy style sex in every single episode. Really? Come on folks mix it up. I think that is an HBO thing. Seriously it gets annoying after a while (like after the first five or six times within an hour.) There were also a couple of other annoying things. I tried to read the first book and couldn’t get through it due to the…

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Short Story Sunday: Motorhome

Everyone has a Grammy in their family…

Vampire Maman

Motorhome
An Austin and Elizabeth Story

Austin grew up knowing that Grammy didn’t have many filters. She’d say anything she wanted to anyone. Austin’s mother said Grammy had always been rude. Grammy said she was giving out good advice that might make people want to do something about their situations. Everyone was in a situation so everyone was told what they needed to do.

Grammy’s caretaker, a lovely woman named Kayla, had texted Austin the following:

“Just a warning, Grammy is in a mood today. Completely speaking with no filter. We talked to Tom across the street. Grammy asked how they were doing and before he could say anything she said, “well it looks like you and your wife have completely given up on loosing weight.” I nudged her in hopes she would stop but it didn’t work. She then went on to say, “I thought you guys were dieting…

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Alive

You’re one of my favorite short story writers. Had you not shared your personal story over the years I would have never have had any idea you had CP. I’m looking forward to many more stories from you, both fiction and personal.

musing

The effects of Cerebral Palsy (CP) develop during pregnancy or childbirth or shortly thereafter, and caused by an abnormal development of damage to the part of the brain that controls movement. Mine was the result of a stoke at sixteen months old from a heart problem called transposition of the great vessel.

When I was around three, I had the Mustard Procedure. An operation first developed by Dr. William Mustard at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. It allows a total correction, and employs a baffle or tunnel to redirect blood flow. Replaced in the late 1980’s by the Jatene Procedure, in which the native arteries were switched back to normal blood flow.  Even after the surgery, the doctors didn’t see a long live for me.

After I had the stroke and the operation that went with it, I had to relearn everything I was able to do as…

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