Snapped

Have you ever seen the television show, "Snapped"?

I have. Not proudly, and only twice, but I have.

It's a show that profiles women that have somewhat lost their minds after years of being with less than wonderful men and end up murdering them.

I know, I know. Quality t.v. in that weirdly fascinating yet horrifying way.

Have you heard of Beanie Babies?

Those cute, cuddly, stuffed with beans animals that have names and birth dates?

They were a big collector item back in the day and my Mom was a B.I.G. collector.

I bet you are wondering where I'm going with this.

I've come to tell you that at one point during the clean out of our Mom's house, one of my sister's and I

 snapped.

We did not murder our spouses, but some beanie babies did come into some foul play.

It all began innocently enough. You know, hours and HOURS of sorting and throwing away, going on little sleep, not eating right. It all adds up. Plus being stuck in the house and garage on a gorgeous spring day didn't help. There were a couple of beanie babies throughout this whole process that just seemed to keep popping up.

They would move to a different piece of furniture.

One ended up on the dining room table for weeks on end.

One stayed in a corner of a bedroom. Staring at me. Taunting me to take it home or give it away.

Daring me, really.

We just needed to let off a little steam, that's all.

Before I knew what was happening, I had the beanies by the neck and was racing outside with a maniacal laugh, pulling my sister behind me and out the back door.

Oh, don't let her fool you, my eldest sister. 

If my middle sister had been there, I'm certain some beanie lives would have been saved.

But, alas.

We wound up our arms, breathed hard, and took a couple of practice shots.

Some would soar, some not so much.
Take a look.
(press arrow button in bottom left corner)

This one actually stayed on the ledge of the wall, forever to live in taunting memory.

Have you ever chucked something over a 22 foot wall? Please press the play button in the bottom left hand corner to live vicariously.

Watching the object sailing in a weird, slow motion kind of a way, then it disappears in an instant...

and with a shock, you realize what you have done.

You have sent a (treasured) beanie baby sailing over a wall, hoping against hope the embankment to the freeway is farther than you thought and that there are no CHP officers stopped there,

 laughing so hard you hope and pray you don't wet your pants.

Couldn't we be o.k. with just one beanie, legs akimbo, twirling head over tail across the great divide? No, not us. Lord help me, we went back for more.

Doesn't she have great form?

I can't say it was an easy journey for the beanies. I wasn't so hot at tossing them. Mine would splat against the wall and fall into the jade plants. 

Poor, unsuspecting thing.

Little did it know it was the impetus for letting off exhaustion, grief, anger and a host of other emotions.

Ah, well.

It's what happens when you snap.