Melissa, Oh!

Tag: Mia

  • 5 years without Mia

    5 years without Mia

    I call myself decent at remembering birthdays, but I’m terrible at remembering dates of tragedies. I suppose this is mostly a good thing. However, Facebook Memories was here to remind me at 3am when I woke to let the dog out that 5 years ago today, I was lying in bed beside my grandmother, Mia,…

  • It’s all relative.

    About a week and a half ago, I decided to attend a new yoga class at the studio I’ve been attending. This class was different for two reasons: it has been called the most difficult yoga class the studio offers, and Stacey was unable to make it so I would be attempting the new challenge alone.…

  • Trim that ugly tree with tradition

    “I miss Mia,” Jenny confided to me the other night. “I was just thinking about her crazy Christmas trees.” My sister and I had a good laugh over that one, and we decided to file it into another of those “Mia stories” categories that just have to be shared with you. So, in the spirit…

  • I lied.

    Not intentionally. I just changed my mind. A couple of weeks ago, I told you about my plan to write Mia’s memoirs as a part of NaNoWriMo. My grandmother and I worked on them for years, and she died before I was able to finish interviewing her. But I have stories and interviews and other…

  • No spoilers here …

    You won’t get much from me the rest of this week. Why is that? I’ve been spending the past few days editing a book written by the very awesome and talented Amy, who also happens to be one of my best friends. I gotta tell you, this book is fantastic. Not giving up any spoilers…

  • She was a terrible singer.

    But when she called me to belt out her rendition of “happy birthday” when I turned 33 this year, the terribleness made it all the more endearing. The other voicemail I’d saved from Mia was recorded after the last daywe spent together. She had called me to thank me for a wonderful day and to…

  • Such a rebel …

    Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her, wish I could talk to her, want to see her. I miss my grandmother, Mia, like crazy, since she passed away in June. If there was anything she taught me, it was to make my own way in this crazy life. That rules are…

  • Minnie Mouse, here we come …

    So. Disneyworld. My apologies for not updating this sooner. In fact, Crystal emailed me several weeks ago telling me she just had to know Mia’s response, and I was so grateful for the reminder! I wrote recently about how my niece, Mia, is getting a trip to Disneyworld for her 5th birthday (technically, all the…

  • My favorite photo subjects

    Wanted to show off a couple of photos of my nieces. They came running up during a photo shoot for a client a couple of weeks ago and of course I couldn’t resist snapping a couple of shots of them.     Aren’t they beautiful?

  • Proving Mia wrong

    Her 95th birthday party was supposed to be tomorrow. We had been planning it for months. My grandmother’s major desire was that we all be there. That’s why the party was to be 10 days after her actual birthday – because that was the first time everyone could be there. And it totally sucks that she’s…

  • Disneyworld. Disneyworld. Disneyworld!

    I’m going to DISNEYWORLD! Ok, that in and of itself is not all that exciting; I’ve been to Disneyworld a million times. So, let’s try again: I’M TAKING MY NIECE TO DISNEYWORLD! Mia is turning 5 in a couple of weeks, and I’ve always always wanted to take her and my other nieces and nephews.…

  • Have a bucket list. Check it off. Life is short.

    I was hanging out with Mom and Dad last week in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Dad had a rather awkward trip down the resort’s water slide. I felt badly that I’d convinced him to give it a try and he’d clearly not had a good time, but at the bottom, he turned to me and said,…

  • It’s not about me. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.

    It’s not about me. It’s not about me. It’s not about me. I keep telling myself that, but it doesn’t make this any easier. Things are changing too fast. In the past four weeks My grandmother died. My parents who live with my grandmother now have to decide what to do. And what to do…

  • Item of the day: Scaring teenage cashiers (a Mia story)

    So, you probably know that I recently lost my grandmother, Mia. I was just thinking about the last time I hung out with her, a few days before she died, and I wanted to share this story. I took Mia to run some errands. The first place we went was Lowe’s Home Improvement. Mia hobbled with…

  • What if my friends hate each other? Hey, what if they don’t?

    So, I blogged recently about running a race in Atlanta and how much fun and motivating that was. What I didn’t really tell you was that it was such a fun weekend that I had a hard time choosing which parts to share with you. The background: It really wasn’t my trip to plan. Scott…

  • ‘Holy cow, what a ride’

    The house feels different to me now. The huge white pitched ceiling with its wooden beams is closer to my head, even when I am sitting in my grandfather’s old recliner. I pause to reflect on the hugeness of the living room I remember as a child. Today the ceiling, the walls, the furniture are…

  • ‘Holy cow, what a ride’

    The house feels different to me now. The huge white pitched ceiling with its wooden beams is closer to my head, even when I am sitting in my grandfather’s old recliner. I pause to reflect on the hugeness of the living room I remember as a child. Today the ceiling, the walls, the furniture are…

  • Our last moments

     I’m sure I’ll have more to say with time, but I wrote this the other day and wanted to share it with you … It had been a long and emotional day at the hospital, and it would be the last day of Mia’s life, though of course, we did not know this yet. A…

  • It’s the simple things.

    A very wise friend told me this past weekend that he wants “More Melissa” in the world. I haven’t been blogging much lately, and a lot of it is due to the fact that I basically missed the entire months of March and April due to that fainting spell. May and June (so far) have been…

  • 4 kids and I didn’t even have to change a dirty diaper

    Chuck surprised my sister for their anniversary by bringing her and the kids up to my house for the night so I could babysit while they had an evening out. What he may not have known was he was giving me a gift as well! It was my pleasure to watch the two boys. And…

  • ‘My Cabooooooodle!!’

    It was 1992 or 1993. We were in the family’s Astro van, driving out west. All five of us in one car, and two of us were teenagers. So yeah, you can imagine the highs and lows of that trip. Some notable things: = Dad got a speeding ticket. That was when I learned that people are…

  • ‘My Cabooooooodle!!’

    It was 1992 or 1993. We were in the family’s Astro van, driving out west. All five of us in one car, and two of us were teenagers. So yeah, you can imagine the highs and lows of that trip. Some notable things: = Dad got a speeding ticket. That was when I learned that people are…

  • ‘Missa, why is your face blue?’

    I didn’t want my nieces to see me when I looked like this. But without the stitches and the scabs, things are looking much less scary. I still look like I had an injury, but it’s not as horror-movie looking anymore. But, kids are observant and I have to share some adorable Mia-isms … my…

  • Weddings, babies, surgeries, life …

    So, you wouldn’t know it by reading this blog, but other things have been going on besides the fact that I fell on my face and have spent the past few weeks recovering. Who knew?? So, in a nutshell, here’s some other things that have been going on: = My brother had back surgery. You…