Sunday, July 27, 2014

MELLO TALKS - EPISODE 3 - MARVEL, MOVIES, & MOM

We are still trying to find balance. There are some moments that are sweeter than others. When we're good, we're really good. When we're bad, well, it just doesn't work, both of us feeling awkward and out of sorts.

He frequently admonishes me for being too stiff, saying that I need to relax more and just let go. I have issues with him being inappropriate, having to remind him too often that he needs to be aware of his audience and people who might look to him to be a role model.

Joy is found in the laughter that can come easily and make any frustration worth the effort. He's my baby but he's also his own man. This has been a learning experience for us both. I am discovering much about him that I did not know and he is getting to know me better as well.

He's my son and I'm his mother and though we are close, bonds of friendship between us, I am forever his parent first, before all else. And as his parent, I have no problems reminding him daily that nothing's real but love. It was the perfect theme song for us.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

MELLO TALKS - EPISODE 1 - PARENTING & RESPECT

MELLO TALKS
WHERE THIS MOM AND HER SON AGREE TO DISAGREE!
 
For additional information contact us at: mellotalks@aol.com



Tuesday, July 15, 2014

A STARRED PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW!

Craving Temptation
Deborah Fletcher Mello. Kensington/Dafina, $6.99 mass market (320p) ISBN 978-0-7582-9298-8
Mello dishes up rich emotions, memorable characters, and family intrigue set against a background of cultural and political conflict in the second Just Desserts contemporary (after The Sweetest Thing). When attorney Troy Elliot, who’s running for mayor of Memphis, meets the vivacious Amina Salman, his opponent’s campaign manager and daughter, Troy finds his priorities changing. As an accomplished professional, Amina is frustrated by having to balance her conservative Muslim father’s expectations and her own dreams. Amina and Troy creatively plan dates while her brother secretly pursues unsavory business deals. Following their hearts, the lovers marry, setting off a chain of events that tests family loyalty and exposes schemes. Mello handles sensitive religious and cultural issues with grace, and her captivating and heartfelt novel will please new and returning readers with its skillful characterizations, well-paced action, and scintillating love scenes. Agent: Pattie Steele-Perkins, Steele-Perkins Literary Agency. (Aug.)
Reviewed on: 06/02/2014
Release date: 08/01/2014

Monday, July 07, 2014

WRONG IS WRONG


Neither one is my daughter but I feel compelled to mother them when I see either headed for charted territory fraught with danger. Neither responds well to my maternal advice, believing, like most adult-children, that they and only they know best.
It was an exhausting conversation as each argued her point until she was blue in the face. And I was just seconds shy of wringing both their scrawny necks. My emotions ran the gamut from frustration to anger to sheer disbelief that such intelligent young women could be so damn stupid. And stupid being the only word fitting for the ignorance they were so desperate for me to believe.
I have no patience for weakness in other women and probably because it holds a mirror to my own deficiencies. Their insecurities are particularly unattractive since both know better. Their collective experiences couldn’t fill a thimble and neither is interested in learning from women who’ve already been there and done that. Despite constant assurances from friends and family who love and support them, they don’t have an ounce of confidence in their talents and abilities.
The two are very different, one extremely high-maintenance and prissy, the other less so. Yet both have the same failings. They react before they rationalize and emotion overshadows common sense. To hear them tell it the War of the Roses defines both their future relationships and if you aren’t out to get them then you couldn’t possibly love or care about them. They cry victim and go on the defense at the drop of a hat and every conversation is like talking to a brick wall that only hears what it wants to hear.
I have butted heads with each of them many times before and I have no doubts that we will butt heads again because when I see them headed in the wrong direction, as a mother, I am compelled to point them down the right road.
And despite their best efforts to convince me otherwise, calling another man who you only met thirty minutes earlier in WallyWorld to come give you a ride to an undetermined location because you’re afraid your boyfriend is going to throw you and your children out at 3 AM has to be the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever heard. And putting your hands on your man to prove your point is NOT a good idea because slapping him and throwing his things around the room will either get your butt tossed in jail on a domestic charge or hurt if he ever decides to hit you back.
They are both determined to learn their lessons the hard way. And despite their best efforts, I’m not falling for the excuses they use to justify their bad behavior. Wrong is wrong and I have no problems telling them so.