Oh, a Disclaimer

*(See previous post to know what the hell I'm talking about.)*

Don't make fun of my favorite videos - I like watching babies eating limes - if that's not pure comedy, I don't know what is!

If you visit you tube here at this link you can enjoy not only Vivi, but also see an old video of Andy & his brothers in Prague, laughing, eating & speaking Czech. I think they were drunk - what do you think?

Sad Passing

To my Aunt Ramona, one of my top followers on here, and a woman unlike anyone else, ever.

Tough and sweet all rolled into one, long nails and that constant "umm hmm" that will forever keep you with me, and with all of us in this crazy family.

It's hard to think of you as gone. We love you.

Recent Activity In My Oh-So-Riveting Life

Besides watching "The Hills," here's some recent activity in my life:

Andy and I visited my brother, a freshman at George Washington University in D.C., on Easter weekend to see him in a production of "Jesus Christ Superstar." (He was an apostle.) It was a great production (especially the leper scene!) and my bro rocked!

Besides seeing my brother, we also saw my mom and stepfather (who also drove down for the play) and my stepsister, her husband and their two kids. It was great!

The rest of the time was spent:
- Walking around the White House.

- Eating at Logan's Roadhouse and experiencing their amazing rolls!

- Staying at a Hilton for the first time (it was awesome!)

- Lamenting over the very few cherry blossoms that were still on the trees (where we were, at least).

Another exciting thing that happened was... I got my driver's license!
It's true. It's amazing. Seriously, I didn't think it would ever happen. But it did, even though my parallel parking was a little sketchy, and I was extra cautious when taking a left turn. Whatev, I'm officially licensed.

The next day Andy *conveniently* locked his keys in his car, so I had to go pick him up, thus initiating me into the solo driver's club. I wonder how much of that was accident vs. unconscious (or conscious) decision. No matter, it gave me the push I'm sure I needed.

A less-exciting event that took place was I became completely up to date with "The Hills." That show sucked me in like quicksand, and the more I resisted, the more I had to watch for hours a day the goings-on of those people.

I'm trying to take some time back for myself, fighting the urge to jump into "The City." Struggles.

Finally, I'm preparing for this weekend. My mother and Harvey, my stepfather, are meeting us on Saturday in Northampton to do some house-hunting. We're putting a lot of pressure on them because we want a house but have serious fears and doubts about just about everything at this point, and feel like we really need some adult pov's. They are staying the night with us, as is Buster the Westie! Can't wait!

Speaking of being an adult - my birthday is this Monday! 31! Woo hoo!
I've been pretty chill and happy with my 30s thus far, so I'm not too depressed.

I am, however, looking for a good Italian restaurant to go to this Saturday night with the family. If you know any in the Pittsfield/Berkshires area, please let me know!

A Funny Thing

Something kind of funny happened a couple weeks ago.

We were in Michigan, visiting Nana, and I got message through Facebook. It said:

"Subject: Was Steve Cronk your dad?

I used to write for Steve and learned recently he'd passed away. If you're his daughter, I wanted to write a bit more to you about my positive experiences working with him.
I have a facebook account, but I never look at it. I only used it as a means of finding you. Please respond to ---. Thanks!"

Wow, I thought. Yes, Steve Cronk was my dad. And yes, it's true, he died a few years ago. Who is this? Did this person really write for my dad, or could it be that my father had another family and this is his son? (Dad and I used to joke about that.)

Well, it turned out this person is not my father's illegitimate child, and really was a writer for him. For those of you who don't know, my father was the editor of "Teddy Bear Review" magazine. Funny, right? We thought so, too. Teddy Bears. But it's true! Anyway, the work my father gave him ultimately led to professional and personal growth.

This man wrote to me that a woman who'd worked with him and my father had told him that dad died. She sent him a memorial article that had been written, that mentioned his only daughter -me. He wrote to me that he has four daughters and thought of writing to me. So he got himself on Facebook, did a search and there I was!

He ended his email with: 'My sympathies to you, Allyn, now almost 3 1/2 years later! I'm a richer man in a number of ways for having had the privilege of working with Steve Cronk. If you have the inclination, I'd be interested in having my very narrow perspective of your dad widened a bit.

I knew this would be an emotional letter to write, and I finally did it today. I thought I would share it here with you. Some of you knew my dad. I know I didn't capture everything about him... how can you reveal a whole person in just a few paragraphs? This is just a snapshot of my dad, who I miss lately more than ever.

Dear Mr. Lee,

It's so hard to know what to focus on, about my dad, so forgive me if I ramble.

My father was from Anderson, Indiana. He was an only child and loved to play chess. When he was young his parents dealt with any rowdiness by having him run around the (small) house a few times.

When he was a teenager he had a 12 string guitar that he carried around with him all over the place. This is something people who knew him then remember about him. He loved folk music and loved Simon and Garfunkel. When I was growing up he took me to the Paul Simon concert in Central Park in 1991, when I was 13. He once got into an argument with my mother about who was more influential to music: The Beatles or Simon and Garfunkel. He felt it was Simon and Garfunkel.

He went to Purdue University and became an English teacher in Indianapolis. The Christmas before he died he told me one of the greatest moments of his life was when he heard that a couple of really tough kids he taught told someone that "Mr. Cronk is a cool guy".

He then taught at Anderson High School, where my mother had just graduated from, but her younger sister was a student. My aunt used to tell me that all the girls were in love with him (I've seen the pictures from that time - his thick 70s sideburns looked great!).

He and my mom, an aspiring singer and actress, met, got married and moved to NYC together. They both had always wanted to get the hell out of Anderson, IN, and so they did. They lived in Greenwich Village while my dad went to NYC for his graduate degree. While in school, he worked at The Strand book store.

This was an important time for my dad because he was always into beatniks and writers who based a lot of writing in the village. And it was rumored that Bob Dylan had lived in the same building a few years before. The building is at the corner of MacDougal and Bleeker streets, over the recently closed Le Figaro cafe.

After he finished school he and my mother moved back to Indiana because that was the only teaching job he could find. In 1978 they had me (he was 30) and about two years later they got divorced.

My mother moved me back to NYC in 1983, and my father and his girlfriend (they were together until 1992 I think) moved to Hoboken, NJ, to be close to me. My father had various jobs, and when he started working for Collector Communications he started at the bottom. He worked his way up, working a lot on "Collector Editions" and finally becoming the editor of "Teddy Bear Review". He'd never considered the idea that he'd be working in an area of teddy bears and collectibles, but he enjoyed it.

He did this for years, and worked on his own poetry writing but wasn't really published. Finally, in about 2000 or so, he left the company and did some freelance work. A year or so later he went back to Indiana to take care of my grandfather, whose health had declined (my grandmother had died a couple years before). So, my dad was back in his childhood home in a town he wasn't crazy about. But he took care of my grandfather, who died a year before dad did.

I hated my father being there, so far away. At this point he was single and I worried about him. But he was fine, just kind of in an early retirement and having a good time.

Soon, though, he told me that it looked like he had liver disease, and then he ended up in the hospital. My husband, who dad loved like a son (Andy and I have been together for 11 years now), and I drove to Indiana and were with my father as we found out he was about to die. This whole thing went on for about a week, while he was in the hospital. Being the only child of him, also an only child, he talked me through getting things sorted out and everything. He knew he was going to die and he was very calm and everything. I am very much like my father, including an English teacher and book lover, and we talked about things like the one book I need to read before I die (Ulysses, he said). My mother came to help and they reminisced about living in the village. We all got to say our goodbyes and he seemed at peace. When he died I was with him.

My father had a great sense of humor. He was sarcastic and sardonic and self-deprecating. We were able to turn everything into a time chance to laugh and joke around, so even when he was in the hospital, we truly had a jolly time.

My dad was also very funny and had a great ability to set people at ease and was just easy going and fun. He was also so smart, and was a very sensitive and emotional person. He was always reading and had such an appreciation for stories that were about life, and those that were dark or sci-fi too. He loved Raymond Carver, William Burroughs, Kurt Vonnegut, Star Trek and Indiana Jones movies and Saturday Night Live. One of his favorite movies was "A Christmas Story," especially because Jean Shepherd was a Hoosier, like us.

He was a great dad, my best memories are of him taking me bowling or to play pinball, and to movies. Because he was a "weekend" dad (I lived with my mom and saw him every other weekend), he always made an effort to entertain me. But he seemed to have a great time. We always played board games and checkers and chess and everything. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't perfect. He drank too much and would get into ridiculous arguments, or play "House of the Rising Sun" on his guitar. He lived in his head a lot. He was a poet, to the core. But with a wicked sense of humor.

So, in a (lengthy) nutshell, that's my dad.

Visiting Nana

We're back from Michigan, which was an adventure unto itself. Mainly dealing with my 92 year old grandmother and the madness that spins around her and her husband in their new apartment (and no, it's not assisted living).

But that fun basically revolves around organizing daily medication doses into baggies (she keeps throwing out those pill holders everyone in the family keeps sending her!), trying to convince her husband she should have two hearing aids instead of one, and of course no trip would be complete without the visit to the doctor to get her toenails cut. And no charge for it!

Yeah, you know it was fun.

Actually it was. Nana is great and just laughs her ass off at everything. We also had a lovely time at the Valentine's Day dance at the Moose Lodge. Here's some pics!




We said we were on a diet... and so they took us to "Wing Night" at the Vets Club... fried chicken wings, onion rings and fried mushrooms... not sure how many Weight Watchers points this was...









Nana at Tim Horton's - isn't she adorable?











Another day at Tim Horton's, Nana's favorite place for soup and frozen cappucino









Nana laughs her ass off about her dying hearing aid!










Andy dances with Norma, the single woman who came to the dance with us.

Andy's Twin Brother?!

Okay - the first picture isn't super flattering of my gorgeous husband, but it was the only one I could find where he wasn't smiling or laughing!

But hello, isn't the guy (the one on the left, people!) in the bottom picture (thanks Dlisted) kind of a (slightly younger and skinnier) dead ringer for Andy?
Minus the facial tattoos??

Andy doesn't agree, but I think they look alike. What do YOU think??

Job Loss and Other Stuff for Today

I am getting sick. I can feel it. I just pray it doesn't turn into bronchitis, since I'm officially uninsured once I return to the US.

Andy's mother's out of her room, and back in the real world with us today, but I took a 2 hour nap and have been gulping down the remaining Airborne I brought with me, which I'd planned to take the day before the flight since I always get sick from flying.

(I LOVE Airborne! Apparently there have been lawsuits about it not working, but that's crap. It works for me. I've tested it when I've flown, and working in a classroom, and it's great. Apparently it's very controversial and the lawsuits have been all about "Big Pharma" trying to squash this alternative product. Support it if it works for you!)

Anyway, if you got that promo-post from me in your reader or email about the signatures, please ignore it. It was me accidentally letting that website post something here. We learn through mistakes, right? The whole signature at the bottom of the blog is cool, though, and one that I wanted to totally "borrow" from a great commenter and one of my new favorite bloggers, Carolina Girl . But the signature kept coming out all ugly and fuzzy, so I gave up.

Andy's brother David lost his job today. He works for Moeller, the electrical-something or other company, which was recently bought by Americans... so of course now they're doing lay offs. The sucky part is that he has a company car (and computer, and cell) and of course all that goes back to them on Friday, his last day.

The non-sucky part is that he gets a 5 month severance package AND what amounts to unemployment from the country. Nice, right? Or maybe it's not... I've never been laid off or fired, so I don't know what the deal is with severance and unemployment in the US, but either way, at least he doesn't have to freak out right now about money. Although, he does now need to get a car since he lives in a village that's not super convenient with public transportation.

So, my day's slow. How's yours?

Gettin' All Teary-Eyed

Andy and I are starting to feel sad.

After nearly 7 months of being here, staying with his parents, we're gearing up to leave (in case you couldn't tell from all the posts about it).

Today we woke up and are totally depressed. Now everything is all "This is the last time we'll go somewhere/do something" and it kinda sucks.

Not to mention, Andy's mom is sick and has been trying to stay away from us so we don't get sick. She's been holed up in her bedroom since last Monday. That sucks, too. We like her and want to spend time with her.

We definitely have things we are looking forward to, but it's still hard to leave.
Andy's mother never goes to the airport when we leave, because it's too sad for her. She just told Andy that she doesn't want his dad to drive us because she thinks he'll cry and she won't be there for him.

It's all so sad.

We've been incredibly lucky to take this break from reality and come here. Not to mention, it's kind of resolved a lot of things for Andy, since he hasn't been home for so long since before he left to come to the US, when he was 19. Now, he's seen how his parents and brothers are living and feels like everything's okay, and now we can get on with our lives.

Whatever, I'm going to try to get happy and just enjoy this last week.

I hope everyone else out there is having a good day!