my stability in life.

her name is marie and she is pretty much the greatest person of all time, ever. she is upward of 60, has clear braces, and volunteers with me at a grief center called canary garden. i may sound like im being sarcastic, but i assure you, im not. she is simply the one thing, next to diet coke, purple skittles, watching stunna glasses videos on you tube, and reading ee cummings poetry, that gets me through the week and reminds me that though people suck and tsunamis happen and i may have a 43 percent chance of being stabbed by my exboyfriend, life is beautiful and everything is going to be okay.

why? you may ask. let me tell you why. beyond the fact that she is a lovely human being and attempting to better humanity through service rendered at canary garden, she unashamedly, unabashedly, and might i even say boldly and with a certain air of flair and elegance, LOVES mickey mouse. No, my friend, she does not simply like mickey mouse, or even love mickey mouse in lower case letters. she LOVES mickey mouse. how do i know this? because her life (and her wardrobe) is CONSUMED by mickey mouse. she spent christmas vacationing at disney world (i asked her how it was and im pretty sure no one has ever loved a vacation more than marie loved disney world). her keys are adorned with a micky mouse key chain. she wears mickey mouse clips in her hair daily, sometimes several. if i could get a close enough look, i would even submit a 32 percent guesstimate that the brackets on her braces are in the shape of small mickey mouse heads. she loves mickey mouse like britney spears loves shaving her head and exposing her lack of undergarments, like hilary clinton hates to lose, like i love my hip hiptionary that is on its way in the mail from amazon.com. a whole, hella, lot.

tonight i walked into canary garden and there was marie, with her mickey mouse clipboard in hand, mickey mouse clips in hair, and mickey mouse keychain in pocket. joy swelled within my bosom when i realized she had a new piece of paraphenelia tonight--a mickey mouse leather bomber jacket. seeing as i grew up 30 minutes from disneyland and have frequented the disney store since the age of 4, i have a pretty good hold on the prices of mickey mouse related items. i would render a guess that this jacket cost upward of 100 dollars. to marie, it was a small price to pay to be swathed in the mouse that she loves so tenderly. all i can say is, boy did she look hot in that leather beauty. i cant wait to see what next week brings.

so you want me to stop mickey mousing around and tell you why the heck i am telling you all of this. im getting to it, really. my sister and i have speculated on what it is that fostered such an attachment (possible theories: her parents got a divorce when she was young and watching mickey mouse on tv helped her cope, her deceased husband was walt disney, she was born with a disfigured head that resembled mickey mouse ears, etc.) its not really important what it is that caused this fixation to occur. maybe one day i will ask, when i can control my giggles enough to resemble a normal human being around her. but right now, im not concerned. what makes me so happy about the whole situation is that marie has found her stability in life, and she wears it loud and proud. marie knows what makes her happy and she sticks to it loyally--she's found a way to survive in this ridiculous chaos we call life. mickey mouse is her system, and im pretty sure we all need some sort of system to navigate our way through the jungle that is mankind.

marie is my hero because she knows what it is that will bring a smile to her face--putting on her mickey mouse socks in the morning, jingling her mickey mouse key chain, wiping her nose on mickey mouse tissue. maybe disney is a worldwide corporation that is contributing to globalization and hyperreality and all other things bad in the world, but maries not worried. mickey mouse is her man, and she loves him. she doesnt love disney, or love disney movies, she just loves one man, one mouse, and his name is mickey. to me, thats what its all about--finding your mickey mouse in the world and sticking to it, regardless of how ridiculous your grey strands may look pulled up into a pastel mickey mouse claw, regardless of how many people are giggling behind your back because lets face it, mickey mouse obsessions are a little odd. its about not caring that you are upward of 60 and maybe too old for mickey mouse, or leather jackets for that matter, not caring that mickey mouse probably stopped being cool in 1972 (unless of course you are sporting the retro mickey mouse sweatshirt, in which case you have reached the pinnacle of indie coolness). marie loves him anyway, and she loves him for real. not because its cool, not because other people think shes funny or hip, but because she honestly, truly, LOVES mickey mouse. she adorns her soul and wardrobe with him, and i like that. for marie, he is the one thing that will remain stable and true, a constant in a sea of change.

marie has inspired me to find my own mickey mouse, my own system for smiling my way through the day, and i suggest you all seek your mickey mouses too (and if possible, find a leather bomber jacket as cool as marie's). how many of us really truly love something from the bottom of our soul, even when its not cool or hip or even when people may diagnose us with slight mental derangement for loving it? how many of us love something for real?

for now, marie is my mickey mouse, increasing my happiness level one mickey mouse themed item at a time. i hope next week brings embroidered ears atop her cute little head, sure to provide a stunning accent to her mickey mouse brackets.