I Just Want A Cup Of Coffee

She was my friend.  My companion.  A listening ear.  My first "child" (canine, that is).  She was there to wag her tail in the good times and to assume the role of furry Kleenex during the bad.  Everyone's sweetheart, there was not a person who met her that didn't like her.  Some even fell in love with her.  She was a trooper who, in the end, held out as long as she could so that we could be together one last time.

Marseille (mahr say') represented so much more than just a dog.  She was 10+ years worth of memories. A birthday gift for me of the greatest kind... a fluffy, slobbery, four-legged ball of love.


Her life encompassed a great number of things from accomplishments, such as winning the prize for "The Fluffiest Tail" at a 4th of July parade, to rescues like swimming to shore and alerting bystanders that a family member was in the middle of the lake struggling with an overturned kayak.  From blunders like running unknowingly onto freshly mopped til…

A few years back, I set out to come up with yet another rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas.  This particular version of an overly-reinvented song was the culmination of many a few painstaking hours of friendly interrogation, insider scooping and just some good old-fashioned nosing over coffee into my girlfriends' lives.

Of course, the mommies with whom I spoke were mostly moms with older children (since the ones with littler kids were either napping, nursing or both.  Therefore, if you still have little ones, I'll have to get back to you later with "A Mom's 12 Days of Christmas - Part Deux."

As it stands, the resulting jingle seems to encompass most of what a semi-typical mom with older children, especially boys, can relate to during this season of hurry scurry hoopla.

Note:  As some of you are already privy to [unfortunately for you], I've performed this particular piece in person, and, it really is kind of funny when paired with props and sung in my mos…