The Talking Dogs

I have waited a long time to post on the "Mom Blog." Too long. The reasons are simple and complicated all at the same time. Simple: Busy mother of young child with a few too many jobs. Complicated: As much as I love reading all the memories Lauren and Whit have posted about Donna, it's hard. I hate that she is the way she is. I hate that the girls have to miss out on having her around.

However, it's been long enough.

I spent enough time at the Scheffel's house growing up to acquire my own lifetime of memories of Donna. One of my favorites happened in the living room at the Royal Oak house. Yes, this was the house where the Scheffels moved after we lived backyard to backyard. The one I walked "halfway" to on many occasions. Sorry Lauren. Te he :)

Anyway, we were sitting around, Donna, me, Mom, Lauren, Whit and Nestle (PERM!). Donna started talking about what dogs would sound like if they talked. In the perfect voices she demonstrated how Nestle and our dog, Mitzi, would converse if they could. The conversation she created had Nestle hitting on Mitzi and Mitzi protesting his advances. I don't know why, but it was pee your pants hysterical. Something so simple, but it cracked all of us up for a long, long time. It still makes me laugh just to think about it.

But that's just the way Donna was. Funny. She could make anyone crack a smile. Even my Dad. But, we'll save that thought for another post.

Mitzi.
I wish I had a picture of Nestle
(or the NELL DOG, as Donna always said) too.

Mom and Music

One of the things Mom loved most was music. And not just one kind of music, but really all genres. She loved oldies music and had certain songs that she thought were funny like "Workin' in a Coal Mine" and "Chain Gang". She got Whitney and I into Elvis music, and that is why Whit used to watch Elvis movies like "Girl Happy" and "Blue Hawaii" every single day. We always had music playing in the car wherever we were going, whether it was the radio, tapes or later a CD's. She likes some music you may expect, such as Steve Winwood and Lionel Richie. We listened to "Higher Love" and "Dancing on the Ceiling" countless times, and we would always sing along. Then were the more unexpected bands she liked including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam and Bon Jovi. Mom thought Anthony Kiedis from the Chili Peppers was so good looking with his long hair, and she always said he looked like a Native American in the video for "Under the Bridge". I remember when she first saw the video for "Give it Away". She thought is was the strangest

Images from "Give it Away"

thing ever, but she loved the song! She told me he was wearing a "giant diaper"! But she continued to love them, and their "Californication" album became the soundtrack to our summer while we sat around the pool in Lexington. Mom also thought Jon Bon Jovi was one of the sexiest men that ever lived, and I am inclined to agree! We listened to "Wanted Dead or Alive" all the time and would sing at the top of our lungs! The last song I remember her liking was "Drops of Jupiter" by Train. She described it to me even though she didn't know the name of it, and said the guy had the greatest voice. So now everytime I hear that song, I think of her (even though I didn't like it that much originally). Music seems to have been the last thing to go with her. She stopped talking, but she could still sing all the words and hum melodies from almost any song on the radio. It was actually remarkable, and it makes me realize that music is perhaps more important that any of us even know.