The Story of "Moomer and the Bean"

Adrianne is just a funny, quirky kid (at 22, yes, she is still a kid).  Always has been.  She has been full of "Adrianne-isms" since the day she could talk...which was late, by the way, not until she was 3, but once she did, it was all in clear, full length sentences. Don't get me wrong, she got her point across very clearly before using the spoken word, usually with pointing and grunting, but probably because we all just jumped every time she batted her extremely long little eyelashes and grinned so big your heart melted.  Even, Justin, 4 years her elder, was so patient and loving with her from the start...I'm not sure if that is a testament to his personality or hers.  Suffice to say, she has always been the apple of our entire family's collective eye.
Her first words weren't the usual...."mama, dada, doggie etc..."   No, not my little "just gotta be me" girl.  I was driving home from the grocery store one afternoon, rushing to meet Justin's school bus, and probably took the exit ramp just a little too fast.  I think Adrianne's car seat must have leaned a little with the pull of the van, and from the backseat I hear this very clear, very deep, little voice....
"Whoa, Mama!"  And from that point on she chattered non-stop.  At the time, the song "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" was on the radio all the time, and we began calling her that.  Just to add her own little touch, her Adrianne-ism, she petulantly insisted we call her "Little Miss Can't Be Bomb-Bomb."  No idea why...that was just Adrianne!
So, on to Moomer and the Bean,  Justin always called my mom and dad "Grandma and Grandpa" (although it sounded more like "Gramma and "Graffa").  Adrianne, out of the blue, christened them "Nanny and Poppo" and those names stuck through the next 4 grandkids.  Justin called me "Mommy/Mama/Mom" just like every other kid does.  Not Adrianne.  I became "Moomy/Moomer/Moom." Sometimes she adds on an extra extension.  When she's feeling extra perky, I might be "Moomerloomer" or if she reeeeeeeally wants something, it might even be "Moomerloomergus"....inspired by Sesame Street's Snuffleupagus.  She doesn't let the little kids use those names, though.  As far as she's concerned, either they settle for the generic or come up with their own!  And truthfully, I LOVE those names and the fact that they are just between her and I.  In all honesty, I think she still resents that the little kids still call my mom "Nanny" but there's nothing she can do about that now.  I know, though, that she still to this day considers that "her" name...althoug the 7 year copywright has long expired.

I call my kids all kinds of names....whatever goofy thing that comes to     mind at the time....as I'm sure every parent does.  Adrianne has a jillion little pet names around here.  She's My Darling Doddling Daughter.  She's My Brown-Eyed Girl.  She's My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine.  (Don't think Justin, Declan and Lily get shorted on the pet name game...they have PLENTY!).  But she's also always been, and I have no idea why, "my little bean."  Sometimes, it's even a proper noun, as in "Hey, Bean, whatcha doin'?"  So there you go..."Moomer and the Bean.

Why these silly names out of all the ones we use around here to hang on my new writing venture? The story goes like this:

I told Adrianne that I am embarking on a new project; writing about the life of the father of my friend, another CF mom whom I am bound to talk about eventually in this blog because she has been a huge inspiration to me over the years, Pat Faherty Wright Geeding.  Pat and her brothers want to record all of the memories and stories and fun times and thoughts and wit and wisdom of Bert Faherty.  So, I hope that will make me another "something new"....an author.
I told her that after I finish that project, I want to write a very special book (at the urging of several very special friends and family members, again, whom I know I will talk about later, but my friend, Mike Rodina, and my cousin, Bobbi, not being the least.)
She smiled so sweetly and said "About me????"
And I said "Yep, about how I got to be a Moomer"
She said "But you were already a mom when you had me!"
And I said "Yes, but I wasn't a Moomer til I had you! Justin made me a Mommy, but you made me Moomy!"
That made her so happy.
She held up one finger, with her glasses sliding down her nose because her face is so thin from the weight she has lost, and said, in her tiny, little, professorial-like voice,  "Moomer and the Bean!"
And we both agreed: "Moomer and the Bean" it is.
And since I'm not ready to write a book, blogging became the obvious next-best-thing, as well as the only therapy I can afford right now.

Then she said "But you can't talk about Hermie!  He's private and copyrighted!!"
(I'll tell you all about Hermie someday ;)

BREATHE EASY and WITH LOVE,
Angie

Just Close My Eyes and Jump...

From the time I was 12 or 13 years old, I've always found I could write my feelings better than I could express them in any other way......verbally, through my actions, my facial expressions...anything. I might not always be grammatically correct, or think to use spellcheck, and I currently have a sticky keyboard, and tend to type more like I talk....in blurbs, snippets, incomplete sentences. And now, at 44, I find myself facing the most horrible life situation I think any parent could ever face, the possible loss of my child, and I wonder if writing can help me once again.  Because some days I have no feelings at all; and sometimes those days are a welcome respite from the absolutely paralyzing jumble of emotions that build and build and build in me.  The overwhelming helplessness, the anger, the grief, the unreasonable resentment I sometimes find myself feeling toward the parents of healthy children, the understandable (I think), resentment I feel toward all of her friends whose lives have kept on going as if ours haven't come to a screeching halt, even though my rational mind knows that is how it should be, the feeling of being so alone (even though I am surrounded by people who love me and would give anything in the world to be able to help) because no one, absolutley no one, can know how this feels unless they have been through it.   So, after the wonderful, fateful, and much-needed  meeting of a new friend...the kind of friendship that clicks immediately because of shared experiences that you would never wish on anybody else but you are so grateful to find someone who understands....I have decided to pin a title on myself that I've never had before; a blogger.  And because I am not the most computer savvy and not sure if I have even set this page up correctly, and mostly because throwing your feelings out for the world to see (all of the sudden the term "spilling your guts" makes sense, although right now it feels more like the explosive vomiting of feelings) I have to decided to do this as quick and painlessly as possible; I am just going to close my eyes..... and jump.

My beautiful baby girl, Adrianne, is almost 22 years old and she is the second of my 4 children.  I've been married twice (and divorced twice) and have two children from each marriage.  Justin is 26 and is a Marine stationed at Miramar in San Diego.  Next is Adrianne, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was
2 1/2 months old and since most of what I write here will be about her, all I will tell you right now is that she is beautiful, wise, articulate, funny and amazing in so many ways.  Next is Declan, who is 11, and is a wonderful combination of being "all boy" and just a downright sweetheart.  Lily is my baby, and at 10 years old, she is almost as tall as her big "sissy," who she adores more than any other person on Earth.  OK, there are the introductory logistics out of the way and now I feel like I can start writing about what this is supposed to be about.... a 22 year journey that, although I can't say I wouldn't change just for the obvious fact that I would give anything for Adrianne to be healthy. but also one that I wouldn't trade, either.  I'm not exactly sure yet where this is going but I know that it has started...so I am going to hit "Post" ,,,,close my eyes and....jump.

And I'll tell you what "Moomer and the Bean" is a little later...