Family

My mother, Margaret, passed away on May 28, 2014. She and my father, Edwin, who passed away June 20, 2003, raised me as their own, from my 3rd birthday, until I turned 19, and left the nest...and beyond. I started calling them Mom and Dad when I was in first grade, because I wanted to be more like the other kids at school. Everybody had Moms and Dads, not Grandmas and Grandpas, raising them. My father's eyes misted over when I called him Dad, the first time, and I haven't stopped, since.

Dad taught me how to fix roofs, how to grow the perfect Roses, how to stick up for myself, and when to walk away. I was Daddy's Girl. We played catch in the yard. We worked on the cars. He let me shift the gears in our little red truck. He was my father; he truly adopted me. 

Mom stayed at home with me. She taught me how to read and write. She taught me how to cook, and clean. She taught me when to be playful, and when to be serious. She taught me class, and when to bow out gracefully. She gave me the skills I needed to become a successful woman.

They taught me that blood does not mean family.

These two people gave up their retirement, their "easy years," to raise another child. They had already raised five, they didn't have to take me in, but they did, because I was family. Family was important to them. Who knows how my life would have ended up, if I hadn't been taken in by them.

My childhood, my teen and young adult years have been negated... The fact that my mother raised me, fed me, gave me a home when I would have ended up in foster care, or worse. None of that matters, any more. Because of one person's selfish need to be validated, my mother became not my mother in the span of one memorial service. My father became not my father, in that same time. I lost the only family I've ever known, because one person needed to feel important, better, justified...whatever it was.

During my mother's memorial, her children were asked to stand. her three sons, her daughter...but not me. Because of one person's selfishness, my name wasn't read.

Never mind the fact that she's the only mother I've ever known, and she earned the title of Mom. Never mind the fact that she would be as angry and upset as I am, to have the last 28 years erased, at the snap of a finger.

Nobody spoke up.

Nobody corrected.

I walked away, after the memorial service. A scene would have been justified; yelling would have been right. I could have deepened that person's grief. I could have corrected everyone's misconception of my parentage, but I didn't. I simply walked away.

Because my father taught me when I should walk away, and my mother taught me to be the bigger person.

Fandoms

God, seriously...where do I start?

The most irritating thing to me is when a Fandom starts acting like their way of experiencing what they like is the only way. This happens a lot in the novel-to-movie, or comic book-to-movie genre. It's disgusting, and irritating, and I can't stand people who act superior to anybody, especially those who like the same things that they like.

There was a time, in our childhood, that we would see somebody with a tshirt, or lunchbox, of our fandom and suddenly be best friends with them. Now, it's all questions and useless trivia and hate.

"Have you even read  the book?"

Well, no, but-

"Then you're not a real fan!"

Um...I kinda am, actually. I love-

"How can you say that you love it, when you know nothing about it?"

Because I know myself...? Why are you such a snob?

"I'm not a snob! I'm a REAL FAN!"

...

And, on it goes...

It's un-fucking-believable that there are people in any fandom that act like that, but they're everywhere. Along with the "Quizzers" are the "Spoilers". I have carry an avid hatred for people who try to ruin somebody's fun. These are the Game of Thrones people, the Divergent people, the ones who purposely post on social media about major plot points, and spoil the ending.

What's the point of that? Do you feel superior, now that you've ruined somebody's chance of enjoying the same fucking thing that you enjoy?

Does it make you feel tough, or smart?

Fuck. Off.

I read the Lord of the Rings series, and The Hobbit, when I was in middle school. When the LotR movies came out, I didn't spoil anything. I watched the movies, and my friends' reactions to the things I knew were about to happen. It's an amazing thing, watching somebody experience something for the first time. It's like experiencing it, for yourself, as a newbie.

Same thing with Harry Potter.

Same with Eragon.

And Hulk.

And Batman.

Yet, there are these bratty children out there, now, who spoil the fun of everything that comes out.

I've never read Divergent. And, now, I'm not going to bother watching the movie, because I know how it ends. The franchise lost a potential fan, because of other fans.

Mind-blowing. And idiotic. And fucking childish.