Well my Dad and I would watch it on TV together.
His favorite part was nobody gets to see the wizard. Not no body, Not no how.
Fast forward to my high School Graduation party. I had a rockin party thrown by my family - everyone was there. Everyone. Both sides of the family. Years later I'd look back and realize that was the last time that would ever happen.
It was everything I loved about family rolled into one scenario. Crab boil on newspaper in the garage. Ping Pong in the driveway. Good music. Giant cake. They dunked me in a tub of ice water. for fun.
Then I got gifts and the last one was a shoe box and in it was handmade ruby slippers. And a card from my parents saying...Go out and enjoy life and remember you can always come back home. There is no place like home.
A few days later I saw the red glitter covering the workbench in my dad's garage. It made me choke up with tears.
At college I put those ruby slippers on my dresser and like many haphazard collections are born, people starting giving me Wizard of Oz memorabilia.
Then in college. My dad turned our world upside down. He left, devastated the finances. I made a HUGE heaping pile of bad decisions that I had to dig my way out of. And in therapy I learned that my mom had made the ruby slippers NOT my dad. I thought it was a fitting analogy of our lives at that point.
I kept up the Oz collection and I have felt again over the years that there is NO place like home. Now I am a creating a home for my family.
It is what I feel is the most important work here for me.
That makes me the Mom of OZ.
