onward

Ok, I'm already in the T-day mindset...This weekend and next week through Tuesday don't really exist for me, as I'm already making plans to be in snowy and cold VT with up to and around 16-20 members of my family, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

Noticing that December is already visible on my iCal, I'm thinking to myself--hmm...I PROBABLY should take another look at upcoming-role's big Finales and make sure that I'm not kidding myself that I know them..and those random 2 pages of recit that I have every 30 pages or so.
Right now, I AM kidding myself. Too many words, too little time.

But here is the master-plan.
(It never fails).

For some reason, my MOM is the ultimate memorization coach.
I don't know why, and she has NEVER studied Italian besides the key phrases that I wrote down for her for her two trips to Italy (quanto costa? un gelato "stracciatella e tutti frutti" per favore), but for some reason she runs lines like the pros.

She doesn't let me get away with ANYTHING, she is like the ultimate angry stage-mom when I mess things up, want to take a break, or have absolutely NO idea what the next line is. She helps me think of some silly reason for the next line of text to exist.
Whether it's because of the alphabet (backwards alphabetical, frontwards alphabetical, A, then C, then B), or because some Italian word SOUNDS like it should be a certain OTHER word in English, or some other non-sensical way to trick my brain into memorizing page after page of recit, finale, or otherwise 'random' parts of the opera'...she is there...and so, in addition to the pies and turkey and stuffing, I know I have my best critic on hand to give me a little kick in the tail and make sure I'm on the right track.

Sometimes you need mommies to do that for you.
And bring you soup and tea when you're sick instead of having to get out of bed all by your lonesome in your NYC apartment and do it yourself.