Tuesday@six: ICE AGE: A Families Story

Me, Cindy (prowd Mama) and Carolyn

ICE AGE: A Families Story

What are little boys made of?

Slugs and snails

And puppy-dogs' tails,

That's what little boys are made of

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

And everything nice,

That's what little girls are made of

I have never had children of my own but I have the privilege of being an Aunt to 15 and my Great Aunt status keeps growing. I’m proud of all of them and their talents. This past week I went with my sister Cindy and her friend Carolyn to see my nephew’s (Cindy's son) latest project, Ice Age: Continental Drift. He wasn’t the only name in the credits and a movie takes a lot of people to get the project done, but you would have thought that he was the only person of importance in the theater as we went nuts seeing his name.

There is nothing more exciting than seeing your nephews and nieces grow up and go for their true potential. Among them I have talented artist, policeman, fireman, coast guard, athletes and businessmen. Though they all go in their different directions I have to say the arts are particularly a big deal in my family. My mother was an actress that worked with the likes of Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Montgomery Clift and Director Elia Kazan. Most of her work ended up on the cutting room floor (her parts were small) but she had stories to tell.

My father was a graduate of Pratt in New York an art school. When he was struck down by a stroke in his 60’s and became paralyzed on the right side I challenged him to paint with his left hand. His craft never wondered as he did amazing work with his left as well as his early works with his right hand. He came from a line of Irish story tellers and his tales were bigger than life.

In their late 20’s my father ended up being a business man and my mother ended up being a housewife as their family grew to four daughters but their talent never left them. My father painted every day after he became home bound and my mother created a studio for him. She did plays in her later years and I never knew how funny she was until she took a toilet seat cover out of her purse and blew her nose in it from a scene in the play “Harvey”. It was her idea to use the tissue seat cover and not a real tissue.

I’m not trying to paint a perfect picture of family, being raised by two artistic people was a nightmare at times but they are my parents and no matter what, we are family. Yes, we all have little battles within the family structure but very much like this cute, funny movie about family, in the end we are together no matter how far apart the ice might take you.