Where I get my feistiness,

Opinions, ideas of what should be,

How I react to others opinions,

Ideas of who I am, what I know is right,

Wrong, shady and absolutely how

To follow my gut…

My dad…talking to me daily

Till the day he died…

When there’s a question to be

Answered and I’m on the fence

I don’t remain there long…

I always remember dad saying, “that’s a

Good way to get shot from both sides”…

My parents had ways of speaking to me

In visual parodies that have stayed

With me through all the years

Since they left me at an early age…

My mother’s opinion on marriage

Was another good example that I

Have said to many young brides as they

We’re looking for their wedding gown…

Telling them that marriage is…giving up

Being admired by many to be criticized

By One…

their ideas and words Provoked

Much thought and eye rolling to the

Rose colored spectacled brides to be

I worked with on a daily basis…

Thankfully I owned the business

Or I wouldn’t have been employed long…

Another quip my mother gave me that

I repeated daily was Marriage is like the

Witness protection plan…You loose your

Name, your identity and can’t be found

In the telephone book…

Some of their insights were humorous,

Some a bit off beat but always spot on…

Their daily instruction was always,

Remember who your are and where

You come from…

Great advice to this Irish, Catholic, girl

Brought up in a small steelmill town

In Western Pennsylvania…