M is for......

Mom - I picked me a good one!

Mothers - What would we do without them. All of them. From that motherly waitress that automatically brings you extra napkins to The Mother Goddess who loves us all. Mother Earth. Friend's mothers. Mothers-in-laws. I've been blessed with a lot of extra mothers in my life.

Minnesota - One of two midwestern states I consider "home" states. The land of 10,000 Lakes. Prairie Home Companion radio show. Doncha know.

margaritas - "Put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up...." Practical Magic reference. I like mine with no extra flavors, lots of salt.

moon - I already went over my love affair with the moon under L for "lunar". Have you ever howled at the moon? Well, you SHOULD!

magazines - I don't subscribe to more then a few but somehow I've always got too many magazines around the place. It's partly my mom's fault at the moment, she gifted me with a bunch of too-good-to-pass-up old copies. But even on my own I tend to accumulate them. Right now I'm going through the ones I have stacked everywhere, pulling out an art idea here, a recipe there, and then moving them on, usually to the free box at the library.

Mexican food - love it. Probably go out to our favorite Mexican restaurants 2-3 times a week!

Maybeline - 50% boxer, 50% lab. 100% stubborn and 130% loyal to her family. She died, an old girl, a couple of years ago. I named her Maybeline (called her Maybel) because of the beautiful eyes, ringed with black "eyeliner". I was looking for a small breed puppy, but when I saw her, all big, gangly, already five months old, in the animal pound, I knew she was the one.

Marilyn - my best friends in high school were twins. Marilyn and Carolyn.

Mary - my best friend through the end of elementary school, junior high school, and the start of high school.

Marin - I lived in Marin County as a young adult. It's one of the places with a personality all it's own.

magic - I believe in magic. I also believe that magic is just science that we haven't been able to figure out yet. But for me, that doesn't make it less magical. I also like the fantasy type of magic as portrayed in movies and books. Don't believe in that, but it's fun to pretend. Of course the question then remains, where does real magic end and fantasy magic begin? I haven't figured that part out yet. And every time I think I've found the general boundaries, something happens to expand the realm of possibilities.

Midsummer Night's Dream - one of my favorite stories/plays/movies. I love it as live theatre, but I also really like the Kevin Kline/Michele Pfeiffer movie version.

Mendocino - one of my favorite places. I used to go up there to camp and visit when it was still a relatively undiscovered artist's colony. Alas, it's no longer undiscovered. Jeff and I had our honeymoon there, which was bittersweet for reasons that had nothing to do with the relationship.

Mound - one of my childhood "hometowns". My mom moved us around a lot, but this was a spot we "stuck" for awhile.

Minnetonka - Mound was on Lake Minnetonka

miscarriages - I've had more then my share. I stopped trying to keep count at around thirteen.

math - always liked math. Didn't know women weren't supposed to be good at it, so I was. It's like a puzzle, a challenge, a game.

matriarchal - my family has always been rather matriarchal. This generation of mostly sons that I have created is quite a shift in the gender dynamics of my family line.

Mists of Avalon - a novel that changed the way I thought about the world

meander - I like to meander. I think it's healthy not to have every step of the way planned out. We need time for unexpected travel, whether it be our feet or our thoughts doing the meandering. Plus, it's a fun word, doncha think?

mermaid - I wrote a poem about my daughter once, comparing her to a mermaid. Now I always associate mermaids with her and have come to have a deeper fascination and appreciation for their myths and symbolisms.

morning glories, moss, mullien, mint, mustard, mugwort, maple trees, manzanita, madrone - plants I feel a special affinity towards

moving - I moved around a lot during large chunks of my life. Mostly not by choice. Ironically all I really ever wanted was to be a girl with roots. Yet I wouldn't trade all my places for those long wished for roots, as all those places collectively have helped to make me who I am and have certainly sharpened my ability to appreciate and enjoy differences in people and in the world. The one drawback is that there are a number of places that call to my heart and it's just not possible to be in more then one place at a time. So life is always about chosing one place over another, even when I don't want to choose.

multi-tasking - I would never have survived as a mother of five without this critical skill. As I've gotten older, I seem to have lost some of my ability to multi-task. By that I mean I can now only comfortably do two or three things simultaneously. There was a time when I usually did four, fix, six things at once!

mysteries - one of my favorite reading genres ,especially a good old fashion cozy whodunnit

muse - my relationship with my muse is very complex. I love her, I hate her. She makes me feel guilty a lot of the time. I ignore her too often. She brings me some of my most joyful moments. Sometimes I try to ditch her at a busy place so she'll leave me alone for a bit. She always finds her way home. She's one and the same my best friend and a terribly bossy, gossipy nag. Sometimes she has two left feet, sometimes she sings like an angel. Occasionally I am in charge of her, more often I'm only her humble servant. I can't imagine my life without her.

myth - myth makes the world make sense. Or perhaps that's backwards. The world makes myth make sense? I define myth as a "story that is fictional but true" It might not be historically true, it may be completely made up, but it holds great truth within it. Most religions are based on a great truth and also a great myth. Myths tend to morph, evolve, recreate themselves to fit new places, times, people, and yet still retain their inner truth. An epiphanal moment for me (is epiphanal a word?) was stumbling upon Bill Moyer's PBS interviews with Joseph Campbell, author of The Power of Myth. I sat entranced in front of the television nodding "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" at hearing someone say something about religion and mythology that finally made sense to me.

mangos, minestrone, mushrooms, mousse - Yummy!

Manet, Monet - two of my favorite artists

majority/minority - this concept has always been a tricky one for me. The majority is allowed to vote something into law. Let's say that majority is 52%, or 63% or even 75%. That still means that the voices of a very large number of people, anywhere from half to a quarter of the population, are still being completely disregarded. I like the idea of consensus better. I know, probably completely unrealistic. But that's still the way I feel. Here's a little bit of Green Day for you - sing it loud!

"I want to be the minority!
I don't need your authority!
Down with the moral majority!
'Cause I want to be the minority!"