#Have known each other since Rick was with Diane

[scoliosisgoblin]

Xan Montgomery, Rick Sanchez's vampire husband

Just the two of them staring..

[justablanketreally]

Was rewatching Rickternal Friendshine and it led to a long and futile attempt to figure out Rick’s age:

SO Rick says that Memory Rick is 35 (5.08), I don’t see how this can be wrong unless Rick forgot what age he was in Birdperson’s memory or makes a wrong assumption.

Memory Rick doesn’t know who Morty is but he says “You’re one of those creeps who moves in with abandoned adult Beths” WHICH MEANS Beth is 18-21 when Rick is 35. I’m going to assume 18 because that means Rick would’ve had her when he was 17-18.

In Fear No Mort (7.10), Rick de-ages himself to 27 for Diane. This could just be Morty’s guess for how old Rick was when he lost his family, but it’s all the information we have now so I’m going to go off of it.

35 - 27 = 8, which lines up with Beth’s age, because that would mean she was 10 years old when she died, and she looks to be about 10 in the flashback (5.10).

Rick moves back in when Summer is 17 and Beth is 34, meaning that’s 35 + 17, which would make current day Rick 52 years old.

HOWEVER, Toxic Rick says that Rick is 70 (3.06). This is like. The only confirmation of age he’s ever given us, but it means there’s a 18 years period where he aged but his family didn’t. I can see a sci fi reason for this but it is like, a lot of time that isn’t accounted for.

Other ways this can be adjusted is: 1.) that Birdperson’s memory of what Rick knew at what age is a little fuzzy, which would make a lot of sense given they’ve known each other a long time and he’s had his brain messed with a lot, or 2.) Morty’s guess that Rick was 27 is inaccurate. This is a little harder to change because of Beth’s age. In the flashback, she doesn’t look to be more than 12 maybe. But if she’s 12 that would mean Rick and Diane had her at when he was 15, which I don’t think is the case because they would’ve probably said something if Rick was that young. Still, we can give or take a year.

CAVEATS:

The Principal says Rick is an 80 year old man (2.07). We can probably dismiss this because the principal doesn’t know Rick.

I don’t know where this is said in the show but a lot of Rick and Morty wikis say Rick wasn’t in Beth’s life for 20 years. This can mean a lot of things. It could mean that Rick left at 27 and came back 20 years later, making current day Rick 47, but that’s way too young. More likely is that Rick came back into a Beth’s life temporarily when she was 14-ish and the left again for 20 years. This doesn’t make a lot of sense, and since I don’t know where the 20 years thing came from or if it’s even said in the show, I’m going to tentatively dismiss it.

Rick’s memory and picture of holding a baby Morty (1.10 & 2.05) are still unexplained. Best guess is that Rick stopped by a random universe temporarily just to see what his grandson was like. A bunch of Ricks first started coming back when Summer was born so it would be consistent that he would do it again for grandkid #2.

CONCLUSIONS:

Obviously Rick’s age keeps changing because the writers didn’t have his full timeline and backstory planned from the beginning, but it ends up hilariously making it so he keeps getting younger every time his age is mentioned:

2.07 -> 80 years old (unreliable, from person who doesn’t know Rick)

3.06 -> 70 years old (reliable, from Rick himself)

5.08 & 7.10 -> 52 years old (uncertain, from mix of Birdperson, Rick, and Morty’s assumptions of each other)

The most likely explanation we’re going to be given if the writers go back to this or decide to explain it is that something sci fi happened where Rick was stuck aging while no one else did.

—————

Please tell me if I missed something 😭. I tried to cite every relevant episode but I might of missed where they said something about his age or the timeline somewhere else.

[fandomwe1rd0]

Obsessed with how Rick is terrified to love again so he repeatedly hurts the person closest to him *cough* Morty *cough* as an attempt to push him away, but Morty keeps coming back due to codependency, and Rick isn't able to leave because, while he has a very funny way of showing it, he does genuinely love Morty and can't bare the thought of losing him (I mean he did have his 2 crows phase but that's really the only time he intended on actually leaving Morty, there was the thing with Unity and with the post apolyptic version of earth, but I don't think he was actually going to leave them) and Morty was the only person that genuinely made Rick happy after years of just self-loathing and desensitization. But Rick knows he can't allow himself to love again due to horrible things happening to people he does love (Diane and Birdperson) whenever he loves them openly, they end up brutally dying in front of him, Rick still struggles with the trauma and hates himself a lot, due to him blaming himself, in his mind, it was his fault for loving them, other people he loves openly like Unity and Daphane left him, which doesnt help his self loathing any, and even after he got Birdperson back to life, he rightfully distanced himself from him after Rick hid the truth about Birdperson's daughter from him. Now he has Morty, the mkst important person in the world to him, someone he would die for, someone who he craves the affection and validation of, someone who he would do anything to get him back. Morty is the only thing keeping Rick alive right now, he's one of the only things that makes Rick genuinely happy throughout the 6 years they've known each other, its even been confirmed that he purposefully acts like a dick, but that's not who he really is.

He cant stand the thought of losing Morty, it would literally kill him, and since with Rick losing people he loves is something he tends to be something he collerate with openly loving people, he attempts to push Morty away with harsh words but Morty still stays and Rick cant imagine being without him and being lonely like how he was when he was searching for Diane's killer which were possibly the worst times of his life, so Rick's trapped.

Morty can't leave Rick because Rick, while a horribly toxic and abusive individual, is really the only person Morty can call a friend, and is the only person who consistently pays attention to Morty (Even if said attention is emotional abuse and dangerous adventures) so he knows if Rick leaves again, he would go back to having nobody to call a friend, nobody paying attention again and going back to being alone again, and to Morty, even if the only person paying consistent attention to you is a horrible abusive figure, anything is better than being alone with nobody to talk to or spend time with, besides his on and off thing with Jessica. Morty knows what he has with Rick is toxic, and while a lot of it is codependency, he also loves Rick too much to leave him, and deep down he knows what Rick will do if he leaves

He couldn't live with the guilt if Rick did something if he left, Rick relies on Morty for a lot of things, so Morty is responsible for him, even if he shouldn't be, and Morty knows this. So Morty is trapped.

They are sooooo toxic and I love analyzing their codependency so much. They are my codependent little freaks <3

[daisytwist]

What is your Rick and Mortys relationship with their family like? Any friends? Partners?

Thanks for the ask!

Beth:

Rick V-024-E loves his daughter and is extremely proud of her. When he found out she was pregnant he tried to get her to have an abortion for fear of her future, but she refused. He made sure he was more around from then on so that she could go to medical school and become a surgeon (for humans). He is concerned about her drinking habits, but doesn't say much because it'd be hypocritical. He's the kind of dad that cuts up fruit for his kid to show his affection.

Morty V-024-E loves his mom, but they aren't close. They get along, but Beth feels a bit of resentment toward both him and Summer because she feels like they were what made her dad stick around more. This isn't true, it was a combination of Rick having matured and realizing that it wasn't too late to take care of his daughter.

Jerry:

Rick has known Jerry for a longg time (18 years) at this point. He really didn't like Jerry for a long time, but has grown to consider him family. He thinks Jerry is stupid though.

Morty loves his dad, but he doesn't understand or respect his father's apathy toward getting a job, and he feels like his father isn't stupid regardless of what Rick says, and could be successful if he tried. Morty V-024-E and Jerry V-024-E do not get along.

Summer:

Rick was, at one point, Summer's primary caregiver until Jerry decided he was going to start staying home to "work on his book".  They were very close, but Summer seems to have distanced herself recently. Rick and Morty don't seem surprised by this which confuses Beth and Jerry. Summer often goes on the few adventures Rick and Morty V-024-E go on.

Morty and Summer get along. They can often be found sitting quietly with each other doing school work or messing around on their phones.

Morty:

Rick adores Morty. He knows that he's lame for calling his grandson his best friend, but that's how he feels. Morty is also his gardening assistant.

Rick:

Morty thinks his Grandpa is super cool and feels like Rick is the only one that completely gets him. Rick started homeschooling Morty at some point.

As for friends,

Morty is friends with a few other Morties (lol) who don't live on the citadel. There is a Morticia, a plant Morty, and a couple others (this spot is open for anyone who wants their Morty to be friends with mine. It saves me from having to make more characters!)

Rick is only friends with the old ladies in his gardening club who think he is a lovely 'young' man. He doesn't have a BP or Squanchy.

Partners:

Morty V-024-E has a crush on Jessica V-024-E, but it has lessened since he started home school.

Rick V-024-E and Diane V-024-E divorced when Beth was between 7 and 9. Since then he has dated a few human women and a few aliens of assorted genders. He also had an *interesting* relationship with a Rick from a neighboring dimension.

[countlessrealities]

@advnterccs sent:

A green portal formed within the middle of the bedroom. Rick stepped out, dressed up nicer than his normal. His usual pants were replaced with dark tight-fitted slacks, paired with a teal buttoned up shirt and a black blazer. He hadn't announced anything about the plans that he had. Nor did he specifically say that he would be dressed up. Though, that was all part of the surprise.

He left the swirling green mass opened as he approached his counterpart, arms curling around that waist, bodies pressed together. Just a small embrace before he revealed what he had planned for their one year anniversary.

"Happy anniversary, baby," He whispered against his boyfriend's cheek, placing a gentle kiss on the spot.

For a moment, his lips lingered, savoring the sweet contact between the two. Only for that small moment though. He was a man on a mission and he didn't have any time to waste.

Breathing softly, he stepped back from the embrace. Not before catching onto those hands, holding them within his own. "I-I did a thing, i-it's -- j-just follow me."

Without having to elaborate more, he lead his boyfriend through the portal. On the other side was a familiar scene, a grass field with blue wildflowers, looking out into the large night sky adorned by purple and blue galaxies. Although that wasn't all that was there.

In close proximity to them, was a canopy that covered a certain spot on the grass. Accompanied by pillows for comfortability and two neatly folded blankets. It wouldn't be anything, however, without a large bucket full of ice and four bottles of different liquor resting inside. And not to mention the basket that could was filled with food items that they could share.

"I-I thought that, y-you know, we could have a picnic in one of the places where it all started," He stepped closer towards his counterpart's body, stilling holding hands, half-lidded eyes gazing adoringly. "--- I-I love you, Rick, always and fucking forever."

{ To your Rick from my Rick 💙💙 }

Rick knew for certain that his boyfriend would have organised something for the them to do together or that the other would have gotten him a gift. He himself had spent over three months on the present he would give to his counterpart, working on it during the little time when they weren't together and when he wasn't out for an adventure.

Neither of them was big on celebrations, but this one couldn't not be an acception to that rule. It was the one year anniversary of their relationship.

Letting out a slow breath, Rick ran a hand through his hair. That exact day, one year before, he and his counterpart had given up the charade, officially confessed the feelings they already knew they had for each other and started dating.

One year. Damn. That felt like an extremely long time, even if, all considered, it wasn't. Maybe it was because, after Diane, his relationships hadn't last that long and, especially, they hadn't remained as good as they had started. Or perhaps it was because, technically speaking, since they were the same person, he and Rick had known each other for their whole life.

In any case, it was hard to believe that they reached that milestone, and what was even more astonishing was how happy they were. Of course they had had a few ups and downs, but for the most part they had been living in a constant honeymoon phase after having properly settled down in their relationship.

Admitting it made him feel a little guilty, but the truth was that the domestic bliss he had once shared with Diane paled in comparison to what he had with his boyfriend. They just had it all. Fun and comfort, adrenaline and happiness, adventures and domesticity, mind-blowing sex and all the shades of romance.

Rick's lips twitched in a smile at those thoughts, as he checked his reflection in the mirror. Back to the matters at hand. Since he didn't know what sort of surprise he should expected from his other self, he had decided to change out of his usual outfit and wear something a bit more fitting for the occasion. Even if his counterpart hadn't planned a trip, he knew that they would have gone out anyway, even if just for a drive in space.

The new outfit was nothing too complicated. He has swapped his usual top with a teal office shirt and put on a pair of black dress pants, his ever-present lab coat thrown over them. It was obviously different, but comfortable and not too flashy.

Rick barely had the time to give the lapels his lab coat one more tug before the familiar sound of a portal opening reached his ears. He turned around to greet his boyfriend, only to find himself enveloped in a hug, soft words breathed into his skin and that loving kiss planted against his check.

A small shiver of anticipation ran down his spine, his eyes leaving his other self's face for a moment to look at the portal, before moving back on those handsome features, shining even brighter than before.

"H-Happy anniversary, lover," he echoed as he allowed himself to be guided through the portal.

He had meant to say something else, but the words died on his tongue as soon as the alien scenery opened before them, on the other side of the green vortex. Red grass, glowing blue flowers, twin moons and the ethereal twirling of the galaxies above them. He instantly recognised the place, because how could have he not?

It was the planet where he had taken his counterpart for their unofficial first not-date. The memory of that night felt like it belonged to another lifetime, and yet at the same time it was incredibly vivid. The smell of weed, the tunes in the background, their voices talking in hushed tones, the way their bodies had gravitated towards each other until their limbs had tangled together.

"Ho-Holy shit, Rick," he stuttered out, eyes wide with wonder. "Y-You...T-This..."

There wasn't a word that could define what he was experiencing in that moment. Reverent amazement, ecstatic enthusiasm, love-infused happiness, and a small hint of amusement at the thought of what the gift he had prepared was.

Shit, it should have been physically impossible to be that much in love.

"I-It's perfect, baby," he eventually finished, gaze filled with adoration. He freed one of his hands so that he could cup the line of his boyfriend's jaw, finally taking the time to take in how gorgeous the other looked in that outfit, under the silvery light of the moons. "Y-You are perfect. An-And I love you so fucking much. I-I always will."

With that, he leant in and brought their lips together, in a kiss that echoed and amplified the sweetness of the one his counterpart had pressed to his cheek earlier. There would be time for more heated, sensual touches. Right now he was more than contented to soak in the warm intimacy of the loving gestures they were sharing.

"C-C'mon," he spoke up again, once he had broken away, but not without stealing another quick peck from the corner of the other's mouth. "S-Show me what fuckin' amazing things y-you prepared for us."

[cwispyhologwam]

Admit it. Rick Sanchez X F!Reader

Word count: 2,382

Rick was... out of it, I guess you could say he was still himself, but not really he just seemed, off. When Morty tried to ask if anything was wrong, Rick would respond in a "normal" Rick way but, it seemed forced. It was barely noticeable but he could tell, even though after Rick basically told him to fuck off he dropped it. It was just after the whole incident with Unity, which didn't make sense to Morty because it seemed like Rick had gotten what he needed and wanted from her, or it, or they, he didn't really know how to refer to the entity, but that's besides the point.

He had spent the whole night in the garage when Morty woke up for school the next morning he found his grandfather passed out at his work bench with a strange device looming over his head. Morty didn't know why but looking at it sent dread coursing through his body, he had a feeling he knew someone who could help him and his grandpa. She was... Rick's friend? (Y/n) (L/n), well honestly he didn't know what their relationship was at the moment, because a few years ago she used to visit daily but again that was years ago, he thinks they might have gotten in a fight or something. But if anyone could help him, it was her.

So he asked his mom to give him a ride to her house, but it took some convincing because what mother wouldn't question why her 14 year old son is going to a 23 year olds house by himself, like what kinda porn set up type bullshit, but after he explained his concerns for his grandpa she agreed. Once he got there he told his mom he would get a ride home and she complied and left. He rang the doorbell of the large house and waited, once the door opened he felt like all the air had been knocked out of his lungs.

She was absolutely gorgeous, her (S/C) skin looked so beautiful in the sun's light and her (long,short,medium) (straight,curly,wavey, kinky) (H/C) hair was beautiful. She was (Tall/short) and (Skinny,medium,thick) it made Morty wonder if her and Rick were ever more than friends at one point. What really got to him was what she was wearing, it was a matching set, a long sleeve sweater and shorts  "Morty? Hello? You alright there kid?" He snapped out of his trance and nodded "Sorry, and sorry again for showing up unannounced but i need your help."

She looked at him for a couple of seconds before sighing "Listen first come in it's weird talking outside like this, and second, if this has anything to do with Sanchez I'm sorry but i can't help you." He frowned, why did she call him Sanchez? And why did her (E/C) eyes look so sad when she said it? He came in and she led him to her living room where they sat on the couch "So what happened?" He asked her, he really thought if he knew why she suddenly stopped talking to Rick he would be able to help "Morty, i guarantee if Rick is going through something right now it hasn't got anything to do with me, we haven't talked in years."

How did she know? "How do you know that's the problem?" he asked, she giggled playfully rolling her eyes at him "Rick and i used to work together, well if you could really even call it that, it was more like working next to each other and having conversations. But we were also intimate with each other and i know the only reason you would be here without him is because there's a problem concerning him."

His eyes widened if Rick worked with her that could only mean that she was a genius too, so if they were partners and lovers in one way or another then how could she not be the problem? But then again they hadn't talked in years. She was right there was no way she could be the cause of his grandpa acting strange. With that he felt pretty much defeated, what now? He didn't know how to contact anyone else or even who to talk to, it took him almost two weeks just to find her and she lived on earth there was no way in fuck he’d be able to get in contact with anyone else without Rick.

"So what do i do now (Y/N)? I just want grandpa Rick to go back to normal, I can tell he’s faking being his old self." He sighed and dropped his head, his shoulders slumped, he resembled a kicked puppy in all honesty, they stood in silence for a while before she sighed, "Have you met Unity? Or has he talked to them recently?" she asked with an almost sour look on her face, Morty nodded "Well there you go, she probably fucked him then left again" Morty had an oo0oh moment and nodded.

"Just like all things he'll get over it, now i think it's about time i take you back home yeah?" He nodded, but now he felt kind of bad she seemed really, bothered by something . "(Y/N) have you ever liked Rick? Or you know when you used to come over a lot were you together?" He asked as they walked out the door and to her car. "Yes, we did date at the time, well what i thought was dating until he bluntly told me it was nowhere near that and i was just quote un quote, "something to do." As they got in the car Mortys mouth dropped open no wonder she just disappeared from their life like that.

"i-im sorry Rick’s a real dick sometimes" she shrugged and focused her eyes on the road, ”Listen Morty your grandpa is a lot of things, a dick especially, and when it comes to emotions, especially his own, he becomes a coward, please Morty i know you've picked up about 300 shitty casualties from him but avoid that like your life depends on it. Okay? Or at least promise to try?” Morty could tell how serious she was without even looking at her.

 The rest of the ride was silent, once she pulled into the driveway of Morty’s house she groaned seeing that the garage was open and Rick was standing in front of it. With his arms crossed, the moment his eyes landed on (Y/n) she felt her stomach drop, her hands were shaking, which Morty noticed. "Fuck me" she said under her breath, Morty got out the car but she stayed still almost frozen. "B-Bout damn time yo-ughh- you got here." Morty groaned "How did you even know I left?" Rick rolled his eyes "your mom o-obviously di-ugh-dipshit." Morty shook his head and waved goodbye to (y/n).

She waved back, she jumped when she realized Rick was now at her window motioning for her to get out she rolled her eyes before reluctantly getting out. He looked her up and down before stopping and staring at her lips, his eyes just sat there for a good minute before she cleared her throat. "Did you have something to say or did you just wanna stand here lookin’ stupid?" He scoffed before taking a swig of his flask "Y-You know yo-ughhh you never wer- seemed like one to hold a g-grudge. Thought yo-you wou-ughh would have got- been over it b-by now."

she stared at him with a blank expression before she back handed him sending him stumbling "wha-what the fuck!?" he exclaimed as he looked at her he was gonna say more till he noticed the tears streaming down her expressionless face "How long have we known each other rick?" he looked at her questionably "hey y-your ughh c--" she cut him off her voice a little louder than before "How fucking long rick?" he stood up right and looked into her watery (e/c) eyes as he held his cheek. "5 years" she nodded "and how many times in those 5 years did you introduce me to the many girls you fucked, the girls you ploughed mindlessly just to get off?”

he looked at her questionably again "none." he said simply "how many of them did you introduce to birdperson, or squanchy, or the people you know from other fuckin universes, Matter of fuckin’ fact, how many of those whores did you see walking around with different dimension ricks at the citadle?" he didn't have to think at all before saying "none" she nodded

"Rick not only, not fuckin’ only did you introduce me to squanchy, birdperson, and other Rick’s and their (y/n), when you decided you were ready to go back into Beths life you introduced me to your family, to your only daughter, to your nephew, your niece, and the dickhead that you cant fuckin’ stand for knockin you daughter up, that that in itself should be enough proof that im not just a hole off the street for you to have fun with" he stood silently still looking into her (e/c) eyes.

"And that the crazy fuckin’ thing rRick! not once did we even have sex, we never went further than sleep naked together! So for you to have looked me directly in my fucking face, and tell me that I was simply something to do didn't hurt, what hurt was the fact that you lied! You lied Rick! Straight through yo motha fuckin’ teeth! The fact that you're a genius doesn't mean shit to me when you don't even have the damn brain capacity to admit when you care about someone! You are a fuckin coward! I know you're scared to be hurt again, fine! But dont fucking pussy out and act like the shit that we had meant nothing!"

Rick was at a lost for words he didn't want to get attached to anyone since Diane and he knew that, he watched as (Y/n) wiped the tears from her eyes ``It hurts like a bitch to love someone so much, and to know that they love you back but won't admit it, it just makes you feel like they’re ashamed of you, like you're ashamed of me, Rick i asked for nothing when we first met." she sighed

“I told you that i just wanted to learn, you took that as if i can get the bitch to trust me enough i can eventually fuck her, yet you never even made a move Rick, your exact words were, i dont want you talking to anyone else, and i accepted that as your fucked up way of asking me out. i never once asked to label us because i already knew what we were, i thought i actually meant something to you.” The two sat in silence for a couple minutes she had hoped he would say something, and when he didn't she shook her head and got ready to get back in her car " I have to go, tell Morty to come see me whenever i guess." she turned ready to get in her car till she fell through a lime green portal. She landed in Rick's room, on his bed to be exact Rick soon came in after opening another portal and walked through.

“When normal people want to talk they usually use their words.” she said as she rolled her eyes and stoop up intending to leave, she wasn't the person she was 5 years ago, he couldn't kiss and caress his way out of this one. She was sick of him talking his way out of things his words couldn't be trusted and his actions were misleading so at this point fuck it, fuck him, fuck his hugs, his kisses, his scent, fuck the way he looked at her with longing eyes and made her weak in the knees. 

Fuck everything, enough was enough, either he wanted to be with her, or he didnt those were his options, she hadnt even realized tears were freely falling down her (S/C) cheeks, she was shaking, she had tried to pursue a relationship with at least 10 other men and it all failed, she was taping her foot fast with her arms crossed as she kept looking at the ground 

She didnt want him to see her like that the man had barely said a fuckin word and here she stood crying her eyes out, damn near hyperventilating “I’m sorry … you’re right, i am a fuckin coward and everything you said is true … fuck this is making me nauseous, all this sappy bullshit, to sum up this shit show of our relationship i love you, i am a cunt for pulling that bullshit, like you didnt mean anything to me because unfortunately you do, i gave into the pathetic chemical reaction that makes me just as human and vulnerable as the rest of our shitty race, hell i might even be a little less Rick because of this shit but if it means you wont disappear again …. It's worth it.”

She slowly approached Rick and buried her face in his chest as she cried, finally the dickhead admitted to well, being a dickhead and a liar, and a coward, and a cunt pussy shit fuck bastard, and his way of apologizing, it was.. Shitty but that's what she expected, he held her tightly kissing the top of her head inhaling her sent messaging her scalp through her (kinky,curly,thick,straight) hair

Once again they'd be sharing the night together she already knew he wasn't letting her leave so after she had stopped crying and did all the things she needed to do before she went to sleep she crawled into bed with him usually shed sleep on his chest but tonight rick insisted on sleeping on her chest probably his way of making sure she stayed there. Of course the two were butterball ass naked it was the only way she could sleep, “i love you” rick said just as she was drifting to sleep she smiled and kissed his forehead “i love you too.”  

[amidst-thestcrs]

8 Facts about my Muse(s).

Tagged by: Someone at Summer’s old blog 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ Tagging: @feralspace-bitch / @speck-of-stardust, @fightan0therday, @tr0ubled-s0uls, @starrys0nder, @hiemaleyes, @implausiblynaive, @defactomatriarch, and anyone else interested!! (You guys totally don’t have to do this if you don’t want to either ofc!) 😌👌❤❤

Morti

1) Despite having “freedom” while living with Gary, Morti actually missed out on quite a bit of typical things that other kids genuinely experience around her age. This doesn’t really bother her until other people start making her feel like it’s a problem though. Gary always had a convenient excuse for everything: they didn’t have enough money to afford cable so they only had a dvd player; most of his family had either died or lived far away so they didn’t ever visit extended family; they lived too far away from signal towers to get wifi so they didn’t have internet; etc.. Due to this, I imagine she missed out on quite a lot of normal things and probably hasn’t even done something as simple as been in a car before.

2) Morti responds well to kindness and doesn’t comprehend mean or abrupt people as she doesn’t understand why someone would be that.

3) Her favorite animal is a frog! She adores frogs so much and used to adore the little pond by their house when she lived with Gary. He actually caught one for Morti as a pet which she still has and named Henry! It’s her most prized possession and best friend. ❤

4) I think if Morti wasn’t able to form a strong bond with the Smith family when/if she goes back home, Morti would 100% be willing to go back and live with Gary again if that ever became an option, even despite all the lies. 

5) Despite living with Gary for most of her life, Morti was still a “Morty” underneath it all as she’s always had a fascination with space even as a kid. She owned many astronomy books and even Gary brought her home a telescope for her that she used all the time to see the stars at night.

6) Morti has no memory of the Smith family whatsoever. She doesn’t remember any of them and will always feel bad for this especially since she feels like she’s probably supposed to remember them.

7) I think she puts up with the name Morti cause she doesn’t think anyone really cares enough to call her otherwise, but if given the choice, Morti would much rather go by the name September/Ember as it’s the name she’s used to and the one that feels most like her to her.

8) The Ricks have given Morti a card to stick in her pocket when she goes off on her own in the citadel. It’s basically just a little business card of sorts that she’s suppose to hand out and get back that literally says, “Hi, I’m an identity confused Morticia/Morty (not September/Ember or any other weird shit she says) from dimension C-323. I’m not lost or abandoned, I’m just annoying but they’re looking for my Rick so don’t take me. Okay, now fuck off. Scram!”. As you can tell, she did not write this note herself. 

Rick

1) Rick’s been alone most of his life. After his parents died in the crash, he never really had any friends and was never able to marry so no other family either. Really since they died he’s been on his own.

2) In truth, I imagine Doofus Rick really wanted/wants a family like how all the other Ricks have, but it just never happened for him. The Diane (or other versions of Rick’s ex-wife) in his universe just wasn’t interested in him and honestly just felt like he was beneath her-- something she actually admitted to his face when they were in college and he tried to ask her out. Mostly any other time he tried to ask someone out since has had the same result anyways.

3) Medical science has always been more his area of expertise than other kinds of science which is the main reason why he was able to cure cancer in his dimension among other forms of awful diseases. I think he’s well known in his universe as medical genius and hero, but really he just considers himself just a regular person, nothing special.

4) He probably owns way more books than he’ll ever read in his life, most old science books and such.

5) My Rick never got a Morty like in the tv show, I imagine he tried once and the council laughed in his face. Due to this, he instead simply tries his best to help any other Morty in need that he can.

6) Rick occasionally volunteers at the Morty Daycare Center when he has free time.

7) If it wasn’t for his lack of time, Rick would most likely get a pet to help out with how lonely his life can be at times but I think he genuinely worries about not being home a lot to be able to take care of it. If he was home more, I could totally see him getting a rescue from a shelter somewhere, but he doesn’t want to burden an animal with lack of human interaction.

8) Rick’s not as stupid as everyone believes him to be, he’s actually fairly smart and can hold conversations really well. The thing with him is just mainly anxiety that makes him extremely awkward. If he didn’t worry so much about what others thought of him he’d probably have the confidence of a regular Rick but still way nicer than a typical Rick.

Summer

1) It’s common knowledge to everyone at this point that Beth turned into an absolute disaster of a mother after Jerry died which is the main reason why Summer and Beth have such an explosive and abusive relationship. Pretty much everyone in their neighborhood, their extended family, and at Summer’s school knew about the bad blood between those two but everyone just stays quiet about it tbh, even after Summer started showing up to school with bruises. Everyone assumes these two have always hated each other, but something that isn’t really known by others is that Summer actually loved Beth a lot when she was very little despite the abuse her mother constantly took out on her. She was young and trusted the only adult in her life even if she didn’t love her back, this is something Beth sometimes brings up in arguments to either annoy Summer or in attempts to guilt trip her. Usually it’s something along the lines of “I remember when you used to love me! You thought the world of me back then!”.

2) One sure-fire way to get Summer to shut up/get under her skin is to tell her she’s exactly like her mother or even looks like her. Summer wants absolutely nothing to do with Beth and even though the two of them are very similar in looks, she does not want to be associated in any way to her mom. She heard Beth say too many times that the two of them were way too similar that even the notation of that coming from someone else, especially someone Summer considers close, will immediately struck her silent and it will bother her immensely. 

3) Summer absolutely loves astrology and knows a lot on the different zodiac signs. She’ll sometimes even guess someone’s zodiac before even knowing it and will even point it out all the time just to mess with people-- for example: “That’s such a Gemini thing to do too, you really are one, huh?”.

4) Although Summer’s attitude is a big reason why it’s hard to get close to her, that’s not the main reason why. It’s actually Summer’s trust issues that prevent her from having close relationships with people outside of her inner circle. Summer is very particular about who she trusts and lets into her life. Her trust is very hard to earn and very easy to lose. If she feels her trust has been broken, she’s very quick to immediately discontinue a friendship/relationship with someone and back away. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.” as the saying goes. Now with that said, it is possible to gain Summer’s trust back again depending on the person, but just know it’s gonna be ten times harder to gain back the second time than it already was the first time. So good luck!

5) Summer started smoking at the age of fourteen due to it being an appetite suppressant. Since Beth spent most, if not all, of her unemployment check on alcohol, there wasn’t really ever food in the house for them to eat, at least not food that was safe to consume. On the rare times they did have groceries, Beth would sometimes hide food when she was drunk then forget where she put it, eventually leading to it going molded. However instead of throwing any expired food away, she’d always save it and then serve it to herself and Summer at a later date. Due to this, Summer often had a lot of food poisoning growing up and got most of her meals from school or a friend’s house. Smoking helped her not feel hungry on times when food wasn’t available to her so she actually was a much heavier smoker as a teenager compared to now. Being out on her own now, Summer has cut back quite a bit, going from about a pack or so a day to smoking maybe four cigarettes a day. She doesn’t really smoke in her house much either, always goes outside when she wants to have a smoke.

6) Despite not being religious in the slightest, Summer went to church with Tricia ( @tr0ubled-s0uls​ ) on the occasional Sunday just to cause drama with her friend. The two of them would often talk/giggle really loud, take turns “coughing” while not-so-subtly stating “God’s not real”, and in general doing whatever to interrupt church service. The two of them would often find a way to leave early to go smoke out in the parking lot or bathrooms and would get breakfast after service. The main reason they’d do this is because Tricia’s dad often times forced her to attend his church services as he was a pastor. Needless to say, Tricia’s dad did not like Summer, for more reasons than just one.

7) Summer still visits Jerry’s grave from time to time and leaves fresh flowers on his tombstone. She’ll never admit it cause she thinks it sounds stupid, but sometimes she just vents to his graves or talks to him like he’s actually there even though she doesn’t believe in ghosts.

8) Speaking of which, Jerry is the one who actually named Summer! The only reason why she knows this is primarily because of her grandparents, but also because she has a vague memory of him proudly boosting about that when she was little. The reason why he named her was because shortly after Summer’s birth, the doctors asked Beth to hold her and feed her in attempts of bonding with her child but she wanted nothing to do with her. Instead Jerry did these things for Summer and when asked what she wanted to name her child she claimed she didn’t care. This in turn left the responsibility on Jerry in which he chose the name Summer because she was born during the summertime and he thought “Summer Elise Smith” sounded beautiful.

[trashunlimited]

finally i am posting a complete ref for my oc julie, who was mentioned here:http://trashunlimited.tumblr.com/post/174314389519/do-five-facts-about-your-favorite-oc

this is a pic of her i made, i used a base for it made by the-panda-lover on deviantart, and got their permission to post this here(i can’t draw well sorry).

(this stuff here is copied from my deviantart account):

Here is Julie, my favourite OC and precious baby. She's my version of Rick Sanchez(from Rick and Morty)'s wife. I made her 4 years ago when I first started watching Rick and Morty, and I just can't let go of her, I've put so much hard work and effort into making her. I know Diane exists but she may not even be the real Mrs.Sanchez, even if she was, I wouldn't care, Julie is my baby and I can't abandon her, what kind of mother would I be? To explain, her hair is red because it's meant to explain where Summer's red hair comes from, and since both parents need to carry the red hair gene, Jerry has a direct relative with red hair too. To explain where Beth's blonde hair comes from, I picture Rick as a natural blond(his clones from "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" are all blue haired because THEY'RE CLONES, and he dyed it blue probably). Beth's nose is also meant to be a mix of Rick's and Julie's noses(rounded like Julie's, slants down like Rick's), also explains where Morty's nose shape comes from. Julie's personality is meant to be the opposite of Rick's, I love opposites attract, beauty and the beast and villains x heroes ships(Rick's not a villain, but he is villainous in nature in a way-STILL COUNTS) and incorporated that into the Rick/Julie pairing. Julie is meant to be similar to Morty in some aspects, while being what I think Rick would need in a partner. Her outfit is also meant to be 70s looking, since that's the decade she and Rick meet, it was inspired by this picture I found when looking up 70s fashion: c8.alamy.com/comp/EXPEM7/1970s… I only found out very recently Mrs.Sanchez was actually unremarkable and mundane, so....oops...the most remarkable thing about her is her being a nurse, but she still seems to be nothing compared to Rick so..I think I'm good? Whatever, IDC bitch.

Full Name:Juliana Lillian Sanchez(nee Kenyon)

Nicknames:Julie, Jubilee, Jules, Red

Birthday:May 16th 1951

Death Date:March 9th 1998

Age:27 years old(main story/midquel), 46 years old(at death), 67 years old(if alive today)

Intelligence Type:Interpersonal(understands people)

Religion:-none-

Occupation:Nurse

Family:Rick Sanchez(husband), Beth Smith(daughter), Jerry Smith(son-in-law), Summer Smith(granddaughter), Morty Smith(grandson)

Romantic Partner:Rick Sanchez

General Description

Juliana “Julie” Kenyon, is the sweetest person you'll ever meet. She has a big caring heart, and loves helping those who need it. Julie has an unconditional love for others, and sees the good in all, believing nobody is a completely bad person.

She’s also a very shy, smart bright woman with a love for reading, cooking, space, science and is feminine and girly.

Personality

Julie has a kind and gentle heart. She loves helping others and is nice to everyone. She is warm, friendly and is optimistic and positive. Even when things look bleak, she tries to be uplifting and to look on the bright side of things. She is soft, gentle and very sweet to other people. Julie also believes that there is good in everyone, and doesn't believe even the worst don't have any good in them. So she does her best to find this in others. Julie cares for other people deeply and always wants to help them.

Julie is very shy, and tends to be timid and nervous at times. She can also be a bit awkward as well and gets easily embarrassed at times. She isn't good with crowds and doesn't like doing things like public speaking. That's not to say she doesn't like spending time with others, because she does. Julie just gets nervous when it comes to new people or a group of people.

Julie is also an intelligent character in her own right. She loves reading books, particularly romance novels, and is very good with things like math, science and English. These skills allowed her to excel in nursing school. She is also fairly logical and resourceful too, and good at memorizing and remembering things. However, due to the fact Julie becomes foolish when it comes to love, her intelligence is often underestimated and even questioned. She is very curious about the world around her, and loves learning new things.

Julie is a hopeless romantic, having wanted love since she was a little girl. She loves romance novels and movies as well. Love makes her act foolish, and sometimes she may make bad decisions, but she never means to.

Underneath this, Julie has poor self-confidence issues. She doesn't think highly of herself at times, and blames her previous romantic failures on herself. While everyone seems to find her beautiful, Julie only thinks she is average looking. She is passive and tends to go along with things, even if she doesn't want to. Her desire not to upset people prevents her from standing up for herself and being assertive and brave.

Due to Rick's influence, as time passed, Julie slowly grew more brave and confident. She became more assertive and sure of herself. Slowly but surely, she became less timid and shy because of him. But sometimes her old insecurities would still rise to the surface.

After Rick leaves, everything goes down the gutter. Julie became more withdrawn, quiet and asocial as a result. She also developed depression.

History

Julie was born on May 16th 1951, to her parents Agnes and Gordon Kenyon. Her full birth name is actually Juliana Lillian Kenyon, but she always has preferred to go by Julie, finding Juliana sounds too formal.

From a young age, Julie’s personality was very evident. She was always a happy and innocent girl that liked reading books and always had a smile on her face. But even then, she was a very shy child and found it hard to make friends. Her closest friend growing up was Vivian Curtis, who she had known since she was a baby due to their mothers being best friends. Her love of romance was also very clear, she liked love stories and her favorite Disney movies were the princess ones that existed at the time like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and later Sleeping Beauty. Her parents had a very clear and strong love for each other, something Julie witnessed. She also once asked her parents how they met and fell in love, which they told her about.

Julie was also bullied a bit as a child for her shy personality, and this is something possibly contributing to her later self-confidence issues as an adult. Boys would also mockingly call her ugly.

As Julie grew up, her kind and gentle personality always remained. When she entered high school in 1965, she attempted dating for the first time. It didn’t go over the smoothest however, leaving her very upset. But her friends assured her she would find “the one” eventually. In regards to the bullying, it stopped. But this is only because everyone suddenly saw her as pretty and the guys wanted to go out with her. Julie met Mark a few years later in 1968, and he moved in with her and her family, and the two developed a brother-sister relationship.

When Julie became an adult in 1971, she began dating again, and later from 1971-1975 would attend nursing school. In 1975, her parents bought her her own house in celebration of her graduation, and she soon moved in. On the way to visit her in her new house for the first time, her parents died in a car crash on the way there. For a while, this was something Julie blamed herself for it and felt a lot of internal guilt about it. After their deaths, Julie continued to remain in the house.

In 1978, Julie felt hopeless and was starting to think she would never find “the one” and was starting to blame herself for it. But in about June, when Julie was coming home from a friend’s house. Rick was running away from the Fyralogin Empire when he stumbled into Julie after coming out of his portal gun. He had been shot in the leg, so Julie offered to help him, which he accepted and stayed at her house for a few days until the wound healed. After his leg was better, they still kept in contact and were now friends.

One day, Cyn, a general from the Fyralogian Empire, arrived on Earth to take back the fuel source Rick had stolen. A fight ensued, and after it, Rick had angrily told Julie to leave, and instantly regretted it. He apologized the next day, and took her a gemstone planet where he got her a crystal rose. Rick also helped Julie’s confidence boost by assuring her there was nothing wrong with sticking to the gender roles. This burst of confidence helped Julie to stand up to Cyn after he shot Rick, the next time Cyn came to Earth.

After that incident, Rick and Julie left Earth to hide away somewhere, arriving on Glorf and being taken in by two alien siblings named Oran and Tyla. They remained on the planet for a few weeks, bonding and growing closer. Julie found herself becoming more confident, but after Oran insulted and slapped her, Julie’s confidence fell down a bit. Rick managed to comfort her, making Julie feel better. During this time, they also went to a nightclub together, where they sang and danced together, increasing Julie’s confidence again.

Julie asked to return to Earth after feeling homesick, so Rick allowed her to go. They both missed each other dearly while they were separated. Julie ended up masturbating while thinking about Rick, while he killed Tyla and Oran for Julie's sake. When she returned, they snuggled and watched the stars together, before Rick kissed her.

They stayed on Glorf a little bit longer, where Rick revealed his past, and the two grew closer. Julie ended up kidnapped by Cyn, so Rick saved her in sacrifice of his own freedom and life. Julie confessed her feelings and begged Rick not to do it, insisting she wasn't worth it. Rick went ahead anyways, and Julie was taken back to Earth. He escaped anyways, and returned to Earth, where he reunited with Julie, and they made love together, officially ending up as a couple.

Julie and Rick continued to spend time together, having their first date and bonding even further, until Cyn returned, intent on killing Rick. The two fought, and it ended with Rick thinking Cyn had killed Julie, so he killed him in return. After learning she was still alive, Rick was more than grateful and cried tears of joy. When Julie awoke from consciousness, she and Rick talked together, where Julie learned what happened.

He ended up moving in with her, where she began doing her best to improve his mental and physical health, as well as better him as a person.

As a mother, Julie was very loving and caring towards her daughter despite her growing sociopathic tendencies. In fact, Julie wasn’t the least bit scared of Beth, even Rick was scared of her to some extent, and many of the neighborhood kids. At the most, she was just a bit weary. She always looked after her daughter and they were very close. She knew Beth admired her and wanted to be like her, and Julie helped and supported her daughter all the way through.

After Rick left in 1994, Julie grew depressed and lonely, only staying around for her daughter’s sake. When Beth became pregnant in 1997, Julie was disappointed, but still supported and cared for her during her pregnancy. She lived to see the birth of her granddaughter Summer, and even helped Beth take care of her. Early the next year, Julie died, when she was only 46 years old, of heart problems. Tropes

Damsel in Distress-Julie is kidnapped, and rescued by Rick

Pacifist-Julie hates violence

World’s Most Beautiful Woman-She is constantly described as being beautiful by most characters

Fool for Love-Julie is usually smart, but love can make her act foolish

In Love With Love-Julie is a hopeless romantic

Cute Bookworm-She’s cute, and she likes reading

Shrinking Violet-Julie is very shy and quiet

The Quiet One-Speaks for itself

Purity Personified-You can’t get more pure than Julie

All-Loving Hero-She loves everyone

I Am Not Pretty-Julie’s self-confidence issues make her doubt her beauty

Obliviously Beautiful-Everyone thinks Julie is beautiful...except for Julie herself

Nice Girl- Speaks for itself

Adorkable-She's an adorable dork

Heart Trauma-Cause of death is heart problems

Cuddle Bug-She loves hugging people, at least those she is close to

Age Progression

Child

As a child, Julie was very shy, timid, quiet and sensitive. She was still a sweet, kind girl, even back then and liked helping others if she could. Julie was a happy, innocent child that liked reading books and looking at the stars with her parents. Regardless, she was also bullied in her childhood, cementing her poor self-image and self-confidence issues later on in life.

Her love of romance and her hopeless romantic personality, stems from her childhood. She adored the love her parents shared, and liked to hear the story of how they fell in love all the time. Her mother would also read her stories featuring romance.

Julie grew up in a time were girls were expected to be housewives and mothers when they grew up, and Julie accepted this. She had her own dolls that she would pretend to be the mother of, and would do things like feeding them, rocking them or tucking them into bed. She dreamed of what her future husband would be like, imagining a dashing handsome man who would sweep her off her feet and kiss her.

Preteen

This is when Julie went through her “boys crazy” phase. She was even more interested in boys than in the past, but found herself too shy to talk to any.

She also loved listening to popular singers at the time like “The Beach Boys”, Elvis Presley and “The Rolling Stones”.

Teenager

Even with all the changes that come with the teenage years, Julie remained as sweet and kind as ever. The most that changed in her personality was her desire for her more independence, her parents were a bit hesitant but eventually accepted. Also being a teenage girl in the 1960s, she was a big of “The Beatles”, but also liked other groups too like “The Rolling Stones”, Bob Dylan and “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”.

This is the point when Julie saw that maybe she didn’t need to be a housewife and mother, as women were gaining more rights and freedoms. Julie decided she wanted to be a mother, but also gained an interest in becoming a nurse, and wondered if she could keep that career up and not have to stay as a housewife. In school, she was still expected to take courses about cooking, domestic work and home finances, she had no issue with this and she saw it as useful.

Young Adult

Upon reaching her young adult years, Julie headed off to university and got her degree in nursing. She also dated here and there. When she returned home, she found out her parents had bought her a new house, which Julie moved into. But on her parents visit, they got into a severe car accident on the way there, killing them both. This spiraled Julie, who was only 24 years old, to have her problems of self-confidence and self-image worsen.

Eventually, at 27, Julie met Rick, and found herself becoming immensely happier. He brought out the best in her, genuinely made her happy and she fell in love. They ended up marrying and she gave birth to their first and only child, Beth.

In terms of personality, this is when Julie's problems bubbled to the surface and just became worse, only alleviated when she got with Rick. Despite her initial woes, she did become happy with her life.

Middle-Aged

The first few years were happy, but after Rick left mysteriously, Julie was never the same. She became depressed, lonely and withdrawn, spending a long time sulking alone in her and Rick’s room.

Despite this, Julie still remained a good, caring and involved mother. She helped Beth and supported her as best as she could (despite Beth hating her and blaming her for Rick leaving) until her death at 46.

Elderly

Julie doesn't always make it here, but in the realities where she does, she’s very happy and content with her life. She’s still happily married and embraces her role as a grandma, she helps give Morty and Summer advice, remains an involved mom with her daughter Beth, who she has reconciled with, and a loving wife to Rick. She’s also the only one that doesn’t keep putting down Jerry. Relationships

Rick Sanchez

Rick and Julie share a very close and intimate relationship. They bond they share is strong and unbreakable.

These two bring out the best in each other, and Rick believes that Julie is the only person who truly understands him. So he tends to be possessive of Julie, and worries someone will try to take her from him. He isn’t controlling, and doesn’t care about Julie having male friends, but he makes it clear Julie is his and his only. They know each other better than anyone. Rick has made Julie more confident in herself, and Julie has made Rick softer/gentler/kinder and more calm and easygoing.

Julie and Rick also help each other with their problems, and in a natural way as well. They don't force each other to change, they let things happen slowly. Julie makes sure Rick takes care of himself properly and makes him brush his teeth, or makes sure he sleeps long enough or is eating enough as well. Rick in turn helps Julie grow more confident in herself and become more assertive and stronger.

The two met in mid-1978(this is copied from the history part, sorry) when Julie was coming home from a friend’s house. Rick was running away from the Fyralogin Empire when he stumbled into Julie after coming out of his portal gun. He had been shot in the leg, so Julie offered to help him, which he accepted and stayed at her house for a few days until the wound healed. After his leg was better, they still kept in contact and were now friends.

One day, Cyn, a general from the Fyralogian Empire, arrived on Earth to take back the fuel source Rick had stolen. A fight ensued, and after it, Rick had angrily told Julie to leave, and instantly regretted it. He apologized the next day, and took her a gemstone planet where he got her a crystal rose. Rick also helped Julie’s confidence boost by assuring her there was nothing wrong with sticking to the gender roles. This burst of confidence helped Julie to stand up to Cyn after he shot Rick, the next time Cyn came to Earth.

After that incident, Rick and Julie left Earth to hide away somewhere, arriving on Glorf and being taken in by two alien siblings named Oran and Tyla. They remained on the planet for a few weeks, bonding and growing closer. Julie found herself becoming more confident, but after Oran insulted and slapped her, Julie’s confidence fell down a bit. Rick managed to comfort her, making Julie feel better. During this time, they also went to a nightclub together, where they sang and danced together, increasing Julie’s confidence again.

Julie asked to return to Earth after feeling homesick, so Rick allowed her to go. They both missed each other dearly while they were separated. Julie ended up masturbating while thinking about Rick, while he killed Tyla and Oran for Julie's sake. When she returned, they snuggled and watched the stars together, before Rick kissed her.

They stayed on Glorf a little bit longer, where Rick revealed his past, and the two grew closer. Julie ended up kidnapped by Cyn, so Rick saved her in sacrifice of his own freedom and life. Julie confessed her feelings and begged Rick not to do it, insisting she wasn't worth it. Rick went ahead anyways, and Julie was taken back to Earth. He escaped anyways, and returned to Earth, where he reunited with Julie, and they made love together, officially ending up as a couple.

Julie and Rick continued to spend time together, having their first date and bonding even further, until Cyn returned, intent on killing Rick. The two fought, and it ended with Rick thinking Cyn had killed Julie, so he killed him in return. After learning she was still alive, Rick was more than grateful and cried tears of joy. When Julie awoke from consciousness, she and Rick talked together, where Julie learned what happened.

He ended up moving in with her, where she began doing her best to improve his mental and physical health, as well as better him as a person.

After getting married in 1979, they still remained close, and had their daughter Beth in 1980. When Julie began working that same year, they couldn’t see each other as much as they wished, so they were always happy to be together. Julie helped Rick look after Beth as the years passed, and was unaware of the existence of “Froopyland”. Through all these years, they still remained deeply in love with each other.

When Rick left in 1994, Julie still loved him and missed him deeply. She waited for him until her death. On her deathbed, she proclaimed her love for him. Even now after her death, Rick still secretly is in love with her and misses her all the time. He continues to remain sexually active and had that brief relationship with Unity, twice, to try and get over her....hasn't worked so well.

Tropes

Opposites Attract-Julie is kind, loving and pure. Rick is an asshole who hates others and has seen too much. Despite their differences, they’re meant for each other.

All Girls Want Bad Boys-Rick is not a nice guy, far from it, and is a criminal. Julie loves him anyways

Love Redeems-Julie’s kindness has managed to soften Rick’s cold and hard heart.

Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl-Rick is pretty brooding, Julie is gentle. She gives him space and allows his growth to be natural and slow

Inconvenient Attraction-Rick is annoyed by his own feelings.

Operation:Jealousy-Rick can’t help but be jealous, even when they weren’t together

You Are Worth Hell-Rick will go through all odds just for Julie’s sake

Flowers of Romance-Rick gives Julie a crystal rose, which is a symbol for their love.

Beth Smith

Julie was always a loving, caring mother figure to her daughter, and only child, Beth.

Ever since she was a teenager, Julie knew she wanted to be a mother. But she decided to wait until she was married, which she did in 1979. A year after in 1980, she became pregnant and gave birth to her and Rick’s daughter Beth at age 29.

Because of the laws at the time, Julie was only able to take 6 weeks off from work, but she made those 6 weeks count. Julie looked after Beth the best she could, and even taught Rick how to properly look after their baby. As Beth grew older, Julie always remained a kind and loving mother. She helped her daughter with her dreams, and was always supportive and understanding. However, Beth didn’t appreciate her, she saw Julie as mundane, boring and unremarkable compared to Rick. This broke Julie’s heart, and despite her attempts to bond with Beth, it never worked.

After Rick left, Beth blamed it on Julie, saying her mother’s “boringness’ caused Rick to leave her. She fought with her mom, hated her and blamed her for all her problems. When Julie died, Beth was sad and did mourn her, but still held resentment towards her. Because Jerry was also similar to Julie, this furthered her dislike for Jerry. She never truly appreciated her.

Jerry Smith

Julie was upset that Jerry had gotten Beth pregnant, but never harbored any resentment towards him. She wanted Beth to be happy, and hoped she and Jerry would have a good life together. Jerry had been a bit weary of Julie at first because he was scared of her possible reaction, but was relieved to see she was kind and gentle.

He was happy to have her as his mother-in-law, and thought she would be a good role model for Summer. After her death, Jerry was saddened, and tried to comfort Beth as much as he could.

Summer Smith

Summer doesn't remember her grandmother, as Julie died when she was still a baby. But in the short time they knew each other, Julie adored her granddaughter and would help Beth take care of her at times.

Vivian Curtis

Vivian and Julie have known each since they were babies, with their mothers even be best friends for years. They have always been close with each other, and have always been supportive of the other as well.

Vivian has always tended to be a bit critical of Julie, usually regarding her choices and boyfriends. She was particularly unhappy with Rick and Julie’s relationship, thinking of Rick as nothing more than a dangerous criminal. But eventually, she got over it as always.

Mark Norris

Julie was introduced to Mark when they were teenagers. She and him instantly became friends from then on. After Mark was rescued, he began living with Julie and her parents. It was from there that they developed a brother-sister relationship that remains strong.

Mark is the most supportive towards Julie of all her friends. He gets angry when someone demeans her, and always jumps her defence. She goes to him for advice, and he always tries to help as best he can

Tropes

Like Brother and Sister-Mark and Julie are very close. They love each other, but not in the romantic sense. They love each other as the siblings they never had instead.

Platonic Life Partners-They are best friends. It's better that way.

Extras

MBTI:ISFP

Alliance:Neutral Good

Astrological Sign:Taurus(May 16th)

Temperament: Phlegmatic

Enneagram Type:The Helper

Character Archetypes:Caretaker, Introvert, Samaritan

Introvert/Extrovert/Ambivert: Introverted

Optimistic or Pessimistic: Optimistic

Daredevil or Cautious:Cautious

Logical or Emotional:Emotional

Working or Relaxing:Relaxing

Night owl or Early bird:Early bird

Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat:Methodical and neat

Symbol:Heart

Native Language:English

Spoken Languages: Other than English, Julie knows a bit of Spanish from Rick and various alien languages

Julie has very neat handwriting, and can easily write in cursive if need be. When out in public, Julie walks around a bit nervously but otherwise, her movement is normal and upright. Occasionally, she does cover her face a bit. She also tends to clap when excited, and twirls her hair with her fingers when being shy, or thinking about someone she's in love with.

Interests/Hobbies

Julie loves reading, it's her favourite pastime and she's been reading since she was able to. Her room has a shelf filled with books, and she has a few more books in her living room. Her favourite genre is romance, but she also likes adventure, sci-fi and fantasy stories. She likes classic romance novels such as Pride and Prejudice and A Room With A View, but also more modern love stories(for the 70s..) and likes reading books that have hot muscular guys on the cover. She also doesn’t mind erotica either..

Julie strangely also has a fondness for video games. Since she first played Pong back when it was released into arcades, she thought it was the coolest thing ever and has been hooked since. She owns an Atari 2600 console and has a Pong console too.

She also likes space, and loves looking up at the stars. Living more in the city outskirts, Julie gets a better view of the stars. Her love for it stemmed back into her childhood, when she would sit on a blanket at night and watch the stars with her parents.  She loves learning new things from Rick, and learning in general, and their adventures together. She is fascinated by the things they come across, like a crystal/gemstone planet or a planet with two moons. She has a big curiosity for the multiverse after all.

Being a nurse, Julie also has an interest in biology and medical stuff. She has no aversion to things like blood or needles/syringes either, and is excellent at properly looking after people, including herself. She keeps a first-aid kit in her home.

Julie is also a girly girl and so she likes dressing in pretty, feminine outfits. She also loves shopping, especially for clothes. Despite being very feminine and girly, she still doesn't mind getting dirty, and loves adventures and exploring.

She also loves to cook and bake food. She learned from her mother how to at a young age, and has loved it ever since.

Trivia

Julie was originally named Tatiana, it was changed to be an English name(jokes on me, Julie actually I found out is French, but its been used in the English-speaking world since the early 20th century so who cares).

Julie only started out as a design for Rick’s wife, then she developed a personality and well...here we are.

She is the only OC of mine to be paired up with a canon character.

Julie was originally not supposed to die, but instead to live and run away, becoming some kind of badass bounty hunter type. This was changed because keeping her alive was more realistic.

Julie’s original birth year was 1949, then it got moved to 1950 before I finally decided on 1951.

Name Meanings and Origins

Julie/Juliana

Both Julie and Juliana are English names meaning “descendant of Jupiter”. Jupiter was the leader of the Roman gods, and the god of sky and lightning. Julie is the French form of Julia, but has been used in the English-speaking world since the 20th century. Juliana is the feminine form of Julius(Iulianus).

Julie and Juliana both have origins in Ancient Rome, when it was “Iulia” (the letter j didn't exist yet). It has been used in England since the 18th century alongside its other form Gillian.

Juliana was the name of a saint and martyr from 14th century Nicomedia, Blessed Juliana of Norwich. She was also a mystic and author. Juliana was also the name of a 20th century queen from the Netherlands.

Lillian

English name meaning “lilly”.

This name has two possible origins. Either as a diminutive of Elizabeth, or an elaborated form of Lilly. It has been in use in England since the 1500s.

Kenyon

Irish surname meaning “little wolf”.

[hannahberrie]

hi! love your work! can you write a fic where el and hopper learn to cook together?

Sure thing! 

Whenever You Need SomebodyWC: 1128

It started when El was digging through the cabin’s crawlspace, again.

Hopper had advised her against digging around in there, but then again, when had El ever really listened to anything he said? Never, evidently.

It’s a rainy, weekend night and Hopper is sitting in front of the TV, listening to the newscaster half-heartedly announce that the thunderstorms are supposed to continue throughout the night and well into tomorrow.

Hopper lets out a long, heavy sigh just as El comes to sit beside him on the couch.

“What’s wrong?” El asks curiously, hands behind her back.

“The damn rain,” Hopper grumbles in reply, motioning to the TV, “The river’s already flooded over enough as it is.”

“Oh,” El replies, voice light with indifference. It’s then that Hopper realizes she has some ulterior motives of some kind — it’s the only explanation for the way she’s biting her lip, rocking in place, and keeping her hands behind her back.

“Alright, kid,” Hopper smiles, eyeing her carefully, “What do you want?”

El gives him an excited smile as she reveals what she’s been hiding behind her back this entire time: a cookbook. It’s an old, weathered, sorry excuse for a cookbook, still covered in dust from being tucked away in the crawlspace for so long. It belonged to Hopper’s mother as some point, was given to Hopper and Diane as a wedding present, and was promptly forgotten once…everything else happened.

“I want to learn to cook!” El beams, holding up the book to him.

Hopper eyes the book with hesitation. “Why?”

“It’d be fun!”

“You’re getting sick of my Triple-Decker Extravaganza already?” Hopper questions, only half-joking.

“No!” El exclaims, “But…I want to learn more stuff too. I was at Mike’s house, and his mom taught me how to make some things. I want to learn more.”

Hopper considers trying to argue against the idea, but he’s spent enough time with El to know that it’d only be futile. Once she has her mind set to something, it’s essentially set in stone.

“Fine,” he sighs, begrudgingly pulling himself up from the couch, “What do you wanna make?”

“Pizza!” El chimes, following him into the kitchen.

“Pizza?” Hopper echoes, frowning.

“Mmm hmm!” El nods, already flipping to the corresponding page in the cookbook.

“Why?”

“It’s good!” El shrugs, “And our cabin is too far for the pizza-man to drive to, I checked.”

“Fine then,” Hopper gives in, pushing up the sleeves of his shirt as he prepares himself. He hasn’t cooked anything more elaborate than microwaves dinners, frozen waffles, and French toast in years, so he doesn’t have a good feeling about this, to put it lightly. Then again, El isn’t exactly the expert chef herself, so they’re kinda together in this.

El gets out the ingredients they need, and the next half-hour is a floury, tomato-y, cheesy mess. El rolls out the dough and tries to flip it in the air like she’s seen on TV, but that only results in the crust getting stuck on the ceiling. They only get it down when El uses her powers to lower it, blushingly apologizing the entire time.

By the time they finish assembling their pizza (a simple cheese one, nothing extravagant), their cheeks are smeared with tomato sauce and their hands are covered in flour. Despite their laborious attempts, they couldn’t get the dough rolled out into a perfect circle.

“I hope you like egg-shaped pizza,” Hopper says wryly, sliding the pizza into the oven.

El giggles, munching on a few extra remnants of mozzarella cheese as she leans against the counter. “It’s going to be perfect!” She insists, “Even if it’s shaped like an egg.”

“That’s the spirit,” Hopper snorts, walking over to her. He gives her hair an affectionate ruffle, consequently causing her brown locks to become dusted with flour.

“Hey!” El exclaims, raising her hands to cover her hair, but the action only causes her hair to become even furthered floured.

“That’s what you get,” Hopper jokes, “For getting dough on the ceiling.”

“I got most of it off,” El grumbles, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Yeah, most,” Hopper replies dryly.

El gives him a reluctant smile. As the rain continues to pour outside, her mood seems to darken accordingly. She glances over her shoulder, gaze piercing though the window and into the inky black night, evidently brooding over something.

Her change in behavior is so sudden, it takes Hopper by surprise. When she turns back to look at him, he notices the shadow that’s passed over her face, the sorrowful way she glances at her feet.

Something’s obviously not right.

“What’s wrong, kid?” Hopper asks concernedly.

“It’s just…” El begins hesitantly, “I feel weird.”

“Weird?” Hopper repeats, feeling slightly anxious. Jesus, where was this going? He’s starting to get an idea, since El’s a teenage girl, after all, and he knew this conversation would be popping up sooner or later, but he wasn’t expecting it quite so soon.

“Mike and I have been…arguing lately,” El mumbles.

“Oh,” Hopper replies, unable to stop himself from sighing in relief, because thank god, they’re not having that conversation yet. Then what conversation they’re actually having hits him, and he finds himself tensing up again. “Oh?” Hopper repeats, more strongly, more accusingly.

“We’ve known each other for so long,” El says ruefully, “But my heart is aching. I’ve been to shy to say it, but—“

“But what?” Hopper frowns.

“I’m worried,” El admits, “I feel like he’s getting bored of me.”

“Bored of you?” Hopper balks. The idea is completely ludicrous to him. Ever since the Snowball, Mike’s been trailing El around like a lovesick puppy. Hopper could hardly keep the two apart for more than two days at a time.

El seems oblivious to this as she’s still pouting in an endearingly heart-breaking sort of way.

“Listen, kid,” Hopper sighs, kneeling down so that he’s at El’s eye level, “Mike isn’t going to get bored of you.”

“Really?” El asks hopefully, glancing up at him.

“Really,” Hopper nods, “I see the way he looks at you, okay? He’s crazy about you. He’s never gonna give you up. He’s never gonna let you down. He’s never gonna run around and desert you. He’s never gonna make you cry, he’s never gonna say goodbye, he’s never gonna tell and lie and hurt you.”

El blinks up at Hopper, eyes filled with happy tears. Without a doubt, those are the most comforting words she’s ever heard. “Thank you!” She beams, completely 100%-ly happier.

She flings her arms around Hopper’s neck, pulling him into a hug, and as Hopper hugs her back, he knows that he’s the best dad ever and WTF this fic is a meme lol the end

SURPRISE BITCHES! 

If you are not ross: please please please for the love of god, reblog this. please pretend that this is a normal fic. I worked really hard on this prank and this is going to be amazing if Ross (strange-thangs) actually falls for it. please reblog it with some fake ass BS like ‘wow!!! this is so cute!’ ‘great job!’ ‘gotta love some el and hop fluff’ wHATEVER YOU WANT. JUST MAKE IT SOUND REAL. I GOTTA PRANK ROSS. 

if you are ross: HAHAHHAA PUNK I FUCKING GOT YOU. I SKIPPED HOMEWORK FOR THIS. I SENT THIS PROMPT TO MYSELF. I CONSPIRED WITH LUCY. I WROTE THIS. BEAT THIS YOU AVOCADO FOOL. ACTUALLY JUST GIVE UP NOW BECAUSE YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO WIN THIS RICK-ROLL WAR. THE TITLE OF THE FIC IS THE TITLE OF THE ABLUM THAT THE RICK ROLL SONG IS FROM AHAHHAHAHAHHA

[rickq178]

Happy Birthday, Miami Rick!

So, like a total dork, I wanted to do something special for my muse’s birthday, which happened on Friday. x3 Guess I dropped the ball a bit. Even though it’s belated, I’m going to post this birthday drabble I just wrote. Enjoy!

Rick stepped through the portal and into the living room. A sweet scent wafted from the kitchen that caught him off guard. Surely, Diane was baking cookies for Beth. She hadn’t been happy the last time he bailed, but his memory was spotty. He’d been on the bender to end all benders. After all, he had turned thirty today. He could kiss his youth goodbye. Dying young would have suited him, but apparently snorting line after line and drinking enough vodka to fill a liquor store shelf couldn’t do that for him. Maybe if he’d dipped into the Fractal Dust as a sleep aid he wouldn’t be here.

The multiverse had a sick sense of humor.

The horribly hungover man stumbled into the kitchen.

“Daddy!” Beth chimed, a big smile lighting up her face. She sat at the kitchen table with her mother decorating a cake. Her little legs swung from her booster seat. “Daddy’s back! I told you, Mommy! I told you he would be.”

Diane forced a smile only for Beth. She rose from the table and walked over to Rick, heels clicking enough across the linoleum to make his headache worse. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss.

But her kisses were never kisses anymore. She used them sparingly as means to detect the liquor on his breath. “Welcome back.”

“Good to be—URRRP—back, sweetie.”

She didn’t linger long enough for Rick to get a chance to hug her. Instead, she broke away and retreated to Beth and the cake.

“Uh, you girls didn’t have to do this.”

“Beth wanted to.”

The little girl wiggled happily in her seat. “It’s Stir‘n Frost! When a big cake’s more than you need, you need Stir‘n Frost!”

Rick sauntered over and mussed up his little girl’s hair after a moment’s hesitation, mindful to steer clear of the stitches on her forehead. “Huh. Look—Look at you. Could be the next spokesperson for Betty Crocker. You—You’re cuter than those mule twins and that mom from the ad.”

Beth giggled but Diane rolled her eyes. She lifted her daughter from the booster seat and set her down. “Sweetie, why don’t you go play outside for a minute?” She opened the sliding glass door to the backyard.

“Okay! Can I pick the flowers from the garden?”

“Of course.” Diane watched Beth toddle out before closing the door. She turned her eyes to Rick, narrowing them. “Why do you go home to him?”

“What?” Rick asked, confused. The room seemed to get darker.

“Him. Why do you go home to him every night?”

Suddenly, he was a sixty-one-year-old man and backing into a corner. His heart raced. “Diane, baby, you—you—you can’t bring Ricky into this.” He swallowed hard. “You’re dead.”

His wife corned him, slamming his back into the wall and pinning his shoulders. Her manicured nails sunk into his pink jacket. “Who do you think put me in that grave?”

Rick grimaced, the little color he had draining from his face. “Th-That wasn’t my fault!”

“Don’t you think we could’ve had a life?” Her nails dug in deeper. “If you’d just come home every night?”

“You—You know I don’t do apologies, baby. I-It’s not really my thing.”

“Oh, is that so?” Diane wore a cruel smirk. Her nails were like knives. They tore his layers of clothes, piercing his skin and drawing blood. “Then why did you used to say ‘sorry’ for every little thing when you were back in high school? You think you can reinvent yourself? Fool me? I know you, Rick Sanchez. The real you. Not this sad eighties cookie cutter version of you.”

“D-Diane…” His eyes moistened with unspilled tears. “You—You’re hurting me.”

“I guess you could never grow out of that speech impediment. Or being a crybaby.” She pulled away only to push him to his hands and knees, the cold linoleum making him ache upon impact. “Grovel. Beg for forgiveness.”

“D-D-Diane, D-Diane… Diane, I—I’m—”

Rick sat up and gasped, naked body soaked in cold sweat. His eyes darted around blurred surroundings. He breathed laboredly, chest heaving up and down. It took a few minutes to realize he was in the master bedroom of his Miami mansion. The sound of the ocean from the opened window registered belatedly over the hammering of his heart.

He fumbled, eventually locating and grabbing the flask off his nightstand and downing all of what remained.

He looked at the spot beside him. Ricky was gone. He checked the clock. Already late afternoon. Made sense. He had little Morty to look after and a life of his own.

“Th-The nightmare begins,” he mumbled to himself humorlessly. The real one, anyway. Diane had never hurt him in like that in reality. Or known Ricky. It had been a memory mixed with a recurring nightmare and a slightly varying script.

He knew what day it was. And he had to meet Miami, Beth, and the rest of them in a couple hours.

He forced himself out of bed.

Steeled with liquor and just one bump to get himself going, Rick stepped into the upscale steakhouse near Paul’s hotel. The hostess at the counter informed him of how his party was already waiting for him.

Rick found the table. It consisted of Paul, Beth, Jerry, Summer, Miami, and a vacant spot for him. Jerry’s attendance was bullshit since he never lived in Florida. Must have been for the free meal and spring break and a desperate attempt to win back his wife despite her being married to her new husband for a few years now.

“The nightmare continues,” Rick muttered under his breath.

Jerry nudged Beth. “Is he talking to himself now? Could be the beginning of early dementia.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “Jerry, please.” Paul took her hand from under the table, giving it an affectionate squeeze.  

Miami rose from his seat. Even though that stupid school made him cut his hair and almost look like any other Morty during the week, he still maintained his tan and dressed how he pleased on the weekends. He currently sported an eighties style floral print dress, a platinum blond wig, and a full face of makeup. He pranced over and draped his arms over Rick’s shoulders.

“Hey, Rick. Way to keep in touch.”

“Oh, Miami, baby… I-I know.” His lanky arms looped around his grandson’s waist.

Miami stood on his tiptoes and pecked his grandpa on the cheek, leaving a lip print. “Happy birthday.”

Rick pulled him into a fierce hug. “You look bitchin’. Wish I could take you back to the club right now.”

“What’s stopping you?” Miami whispered into his ear.

Jerry cleared his throat. When that got no reaction, he spoke loud enough for the entire restaurant. “See, this isn’t normal. I thought that school you sent him to was gonna make him into a real man. People probably think Morty’s Rick’s hooker.”

Rick only broke the hug to storm over to the table and draw is laser gun from his belt. He grabbed Jerry by the collar of his wrinkled shirt and pointed it at his head. “What’d you say?! Wh-Wh-What would you know about real men since all you are is a real piece of shit?!”

Paul stood, putting a hand on Rick’s wrist in an effort to make him lower the gun. “Rick, be sensible! It’d be foolish to act like an animal and get kicked out of this fine establishment. Beth made the reservation a month in advanced.”

Rick’s blood boiled, but Paul’s comment was enough to make him look at his daughter. Instead of seeing her as a thirty-four-year-old woman, he saw the sweet, little cherub sitting in the booster seat. Even with her makeup on, he remembered exactly where the scar on her forehead would be from the airplane accident. He swallowed hard, recollecting how he’d been holding the girl in his arms one minute and seeing her in a hospital bed in what felt like the next. Diane told him he’d thrown her.

Rick put the gun away and let go of Jerry, who cowered at this point. The sack of shit probably wet himself. “Yeah, whatever.” He clipped his sunglasses to the front of his shirt and sat down. “You—You didn’t have to do this, Beth.”

Beth smiled. “I wanted to, Dad. Have some wine.”

Miami took his seat and giggled despite the recent scene. “Yeah, Rick. You’re gonna need it.”

“Totally,” Summer said, also smiling. “Happy birthday, Grandpa Rick.”

The evening was still young. Even after dining on steak and lobster, he still drank enough to get tipsy at the restaurant. And now he was totally shit-faced in a booth at his club. Like every night. Instead of having a glass of water after each cocktail, he did a line, purple powder dusted under his nose. As flamboyant of a Rick as he was, most would have expected him to make a scene and throw an even bigger party on his birthday. Instead, it was old hat, the club playing out the same way it did every night, eighties dance songs blasting over the sound system, shuffled but the same.

He danced the night away until his body felt too heavy and could no longer stand. The alien bartender politely helped Rick steady himself. She encouraged him to take the party back home and promised how she’d lock up for the night. She playfully said how maybe Rick could catch his young boyfriend if the stars were in alignment.

Rick just barely stumbled through the portal back into the bedroom, a bottle of vodka in his hand. He collapsed onto the bed and took a swig, though the majority of it made it onto his shirt. And he coughed like an amateur, though it stemmed from choking a bit rather than from the burning sensation his throat had grown numb to long ago.

“H-H-Here’s to you, you old bastard,” he slurred upon regaining his breath, watching as the room spun around him. “Happy fucking goddamn birthday.”

He started snoring then, the bottle falling out of his hand and rolling onto the floor.

[justforbooks]

I’ve been trying to remember, was it The Sorrow And The Pity they were lining up for when, sick to death of the medium-is-the-message windbaggery of the pseudo-intellectual – now there’s a term to blast me back – in front of him, Alvy actually produces Marshall McLuhan from behind a lobby card? The association strikes me as a natural one, since I’m about to gather with the other acolytes in an art house cinema. Will anyone in the queue reference or be moved to imitate the McLuhan moment, I wonder?

And where were they? Was it at the Regency at 68th street? (Was it even called the Regency? It hardly matters, since it’s gone now, like the New Yorker at 88th, the movie house at 72nd and Broadway, the Thalia {{which does show up at the very end of the movie, when he runs into Annie after they’ve stopped dating and introduces her to a young, young Sigourney Weaver, fresh out of Yale}}, the Metro, the Bleecker and, of course, Theater 80. With all the rep houses having ceded their real estate to condos and their authority to Netflix, who is curating the tastes of the city’s undergraduates? How will they even know about The Sorrow And The Pity? Mondo Cane? How can the budding homosexual flower without the occasional force-feeding of a double feature of Now Voyager and All About Eve? To wit – and to extend this parenthetical yet further: in senior year, at the last meeting of our Japanese literature seminar before Spring break, the professor – ageing, erudite, one of the few, perhaps only, Western recipients of countless Japanese cultural laurels – asked us our plans for the coming week. I allowed as how I would be staying in town in order to write my thesis. ‘Well then, of course you’ll be going to the Bette Davis festival every day down at the Embassy.’ He said it as if stating an obvious prescription, like recommending medical attention for a sucking chest wound, or ‘You’ll want to call the fire department about those flames licking up the front of your house.’ Only a self-destructive lunatic would think he could survive the week by missing the Bette Davis festival. I took his advice and went every day. Did it help my thesis any? Hard to say. It was a long time ago.)

The time when a Woody Allen retrospective would have evoked that kind of fierce cinéaste devotion seems long gone, having been tempered out of us not just by the years (such performative loyalty is really the province of the youngsters who nightly go to Irving Plaza right near my apartment, passing the hours sitting on the pavement singing the songs of the artists they are about to see), but by Woody Allen himself. The tsunami of mediocrities like Hollywood Ending and Melinda And Melinda effectively obliterates why Manhattan mattered so much. I can’t help feeling like he’s dismantled the very admirable legacy of his earlier work by his later, overly prolific efforts. It’s a more benign version of Ralph Nader (with the key difference that I hate Ralph Nader, whereas Woody Allen simply makes me a little bit sad).

Then again, no one worth a damn doesn’t make the occasional bit of bad work: there are episodes of The Judy Garland Show that are absolute train wrecks of creaky squareness, made all the more ghoulish by the presence of an aphasic gin-soaked Peter Lawford, and I take a back seat to no one in my love for Judy Garland, the most talented individual who ever lived (ladies and gentlemen, my Kinsey placement); I read a lousy late Edith Wharton novel this summer, The Children, that was a tone-deaf, treacly muddle; I don’t care for Balanchine’s Scherzo à la Russe and I’ve said it before, even though it is considered a cinematically signal moment by the Cahiers du Cinema crowd (zzzzzzz), I’m no great fan of the movie Kiss Me Deadly.

Perhaps taken as a whole, the twenty-eight films will start to exert their own internal logic and I will see and delight in how Allen mines his themes over and over again. Or perhaps it will be like the Broadway show Fosse, where a surfeit of the choreographer’s vocabulary made all of it suffer and the entire thing looked like the kind of shitty entertainment that takes place on a raised, round, carpeted platform at a car show. I’ll see, I guess.

As one might expect for the 1:30 p.m. showing on the Friday before Christmas, there are only about a dozen of us waiting. Our ranks swell to about thirty people closer to show time, but at first it’s just me and more than a few men of a certain age (whose ranks I join with ever greater legitimacy each day), about whom it might be reasonably assumed that we spend an inordinate amount of time fixating on when next we might need to pee. Thoughts of age stay at the forefront in the first few minutes of the film, when Woody Allen himself (who, it must be said, in later scenes, stripped down to boxers, kind of had a rocking little body in his day) addresses the camera directly and tells us that he just turned forty. I’m older than that by two years.

How many times have I seen this, I wonder? Unquantifiable. The film is canonical and familiar and memorized, almost to the point of ritual. Perhaps this is the spiritual solace the faithful find in the formulaic rhythms of liturgy. It’s as comforting as stepping into a warm bath. Diane Keaton is enchanting, there is no other word for it. She comes on the screen and you can hear the slightest creaking in the audience as corners of mouths turn up. There is Christopher Walken, a peach-fuzzed stripling. And there, doe-eyed, with drum-tight skin: Carol Kane playing Alvy’s first wife, Allison Portchnik.

Allison Portchnik. Oy. I am generally known as an unfailingly appropriate fellow. I have very good manners. But when I fuck up, I fuck up big time. Suddenly I am reminded of how, three years ago, I was on a story for an adventure magazine, an environmental consciousness-raising whitewater-rafting expedition in Chilean Patagonia (about which the less said the better. It’s really scary. Others may call it exhilarating, and I suppose it is, the way having a bone marrow test finally over and done with is exhilarating. And Patagonia, Chilean Patagonia at least, while pretty, isn’t one tenth as breathtaking as British Columbia). On the trip with me were Bobby Kennedy, Jr., hotelier André Balazs and Glenn Close, among others. Everyone was very nice, I hasten to add.

After lunch one day, my friend Chris, the photographer on the story, came up to me and said, ‘I’d lay off the Kennedy assassination jokes if I were you.’

I laughed, but Chris reiterated, not joking this time. ‘No, I’d really lay off the Kennedy assassination jokes. The lunch line . . .’ he reminded me.

And then I remembered. I had been dreading this trip (see above about how totally justified I was in my trepidation) for weeks beforehand, terrified by the off-the-grid distance of this Chilean river, a full three days of travel away; terrified of the rapids and their aqueous meatgrinder properties; terrified of just being out of New York. All of this terror I took and disguised as an affronted sense of moral outrage, that such trips were frivolous, given the terrible global situation. I explained it to Glenn Close thusly:

‘I was using the war in Iraq to try and avoid coming down here,’ suddenly, unthinkingly invoking the part of Annie Hall where Alvy breaks off from kissing Allison because he’s distracted by niggling doubts: if the motorcade was driving past the Texas Book Depository, how could Oswald, a poor marksman, have made his shot? Surely there was a conspiracy afoot. Then, with Bobby Kennedy, Jr. helping himself to three-bean salad on the lunch line not five feet away, I switched into my Carol Kane as Allison Portchnik voice and said, ‘You’re using the Kennedy Assassination as an excuse to avoid having sex with me.’ Then I followed that up with my Woody Allen imitation and finished out the scene. Nice. No one pointed out my gaffe or was anything other than gracious and delightful.

Despite how well I know the material, the film feels so fresh. All the observations and jokes feel like they’re being made for the first time, or are at least in their infancy. By later films they will feel hackneyed (in the movie Funny Girl, the process of calcification is even more accelerated. You get back from intermission and Barbra Streisand already feels like too big a star, a drag version of herself ), but here it’s all just terrifically entertaining. And current! Alvy tells his friend Max that he feels that the rest of the country turning its back on the city – It’s the mid-70s. Gerald Ford to New York: Drop Dead, and all that jazz – is anti-Semitic in nature. That we are seen as left-wing, Communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers. And so we remain, at least in the eyes of Washington and elsewhere, a pervy bastion of surrender monkeys. There was an Onion headline that ran after a sufficient interval of time had passed post-9/11, that essentially read, ‘Rest of country’s temporary love affair with New York officially over.’

Rest of the country’s perhaps, but mine was just beginning when I saw the film at age eleven. By the time the voiceover gets to the coda about how we throw ourselves over and over again into love affairs despite their almost inevitable disappointments and heartbreak because, like the joke says, ‘we need the eggs,’ (if you need the set-up to the punchline, what on earth are you doing reading this?) I am weepy with love for the city. Although, truth be told, it doesn’t take much to get my New York waterworks going.

Walking out, my friend Rick, thirtyplus years resident said, ‘I had forgotten how Jewish a film it is.’ I really hadn’t noticed. But I’m the wrong guy to ask. It’s like saying to a fish, ‘Do things around here seem really wet to you?’ I wrote a book that got translated into German a few years back. There was a fascination among the Germans with what they perceived as my Jewish sensibility; a living example of the extirpated culture. I’ve said this before, but I felt like the walking illustration of that old joke about the suburbs being the place where they chop down all the trees and then name the streets after them. At least a dozen of the reviews referred to me as a ‘stadtneurotiker’, an urban neurotic, a designation that pleased me, I won’t lie. Especially when I found out the German title for Annie Hall.

Der Stadtneurotiker.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[dmozal-cancer-walk-in-50states]

Attended states 38 and 39, Kansas and Nebraska

Seneca, Kansas - July 14, 2017

Before I share stories from the Seneca Relay for Life event I’d like to send a huge thank you to the owners of Altenhofen Inn & Suites (http://altenhofeninn.com/) in Seneca. They were kind enough to give me a cost break on my accommodations. The hotel was beautiful, the staff friendly and helpful, and the location was perfect (right across the street from Nemaha Central High School).

View of the Seneca water tower from the Relay for Life event

The Nemaha County event was a lot of fun. It was such a hot day and yet there were a lot of survivors who attended, along with family and friends. It was held at the track of Nemaha County High School and they raised approximately $28,000 so far.

Nemaha County High School bleachers

Luminaria displaying names of those who have had cancer

One of the prizes at Seneca’s Relay

I met several survivors and am privileged to share some of their stories.

Lisa Studer

I met Lisa Studer at Altenhofen Inn & Suites which is where she works. I was asking for directions to the event and explaining why I was in town and she was kind enough to share her story.

Lisa is a 1-year survivor of breast cancer. She found her breast cancer after going on vacation with her sisters. She was having trouble climbing in and out of the car and thought she had pulled a muscle.

Lisa Studer and me

She felt a lump in her breast that she had ignored because she thought it was “grandma boob” from the grandkids pushing off her with their elbows as they got off her lap. She had a bruise in that spot and figured it was just a sore spot from the repeated elbowing.

She went to her doctor who did a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy. It was confirmed she had breast cancer. Lisa had chemo, then the lumpectomy and finally radiation.

Lisa is like the energizer bunny! She is only a year out from her diagnosis and treatments but I would not have known. She is involved in work, her family and especially her grandkids!

Alice Wells

I met Alice Wells, who has Von Recklinghausen’s Disease (VRD) or nerve fibromatosis (stage 1). This disease doesn’t always turn cancerous but when it does it is considered a male cancer. Although Alice was diagnosed at 7 years old she was born with the disease. The disease is painful and has a short life expectancy. For men, the life expectancy average is 37, and for a woman it is 35.

Alice Wells and Rick Battey

VRD is usually passed from father to first-born son but Alice was the first-born child in the family. Alice’s father died from the disease at just shy of his 37th birthday. Her grandfather (who survived until he was in his 60’s), her niece and one of her grandchildren have also been affected by this disease.

Alice defied the odds by being 50 on her last birthday and she said she is only the 4th female in the United States to have this form of cancer (not including her niece). Of the 4 females, Alice is the only one that has survived this long. The other women passed away before they turned 30.

The first doctor she went to said she didn’t have the disease but the second doctor said he believed she did so he sent her straight to K.U. Medical (also known as University of Kansas Hospital). This disease doesn’t respond to chemo, radiation, or any other medicines. It is only treatable by having the bumps removed. Typically, this type of surgery isn’t done unless the bump really bothers the patient. It is a very complicated disease. Alice explained the bump goes to a cone and the cone touches a nerve, which is what causes the pain. If the bump explodes the toxins in it will release the poison into the blood stream and the person normally dies.

Alice’s doctor said that diet also has a lot to do with the disease so her husband, Rick Battey, is a chef and he cooks all organic (no process foods, etc.) for Alice. The effects of the disease have been tremendous. Alice gained a lot of weight which increases the danger of the disease. She has since lost a lot of that weight. Stroke is one of the side effects of the disease as well. At the age of 45 Alice had 4 strokes in a very short time periods. Luckily Rick was a paramedic for many years and could recognize the symptoms of a stroke so he got her to the hospital quickly.

These two have been together for many years. Rick has been Alice’s caregiver for 16 years; they have known each other for 28 years. Rick was running a restaurant when they met and Alice got a job there. Alice started to babysit his son and they have been together ever since. This couple laughs saying Rick started as Alice’s boss but when they got married she became Rick’s boss.

Alice and Rick’s grandchildren (76 grandchildren total, 7 are blood grandchildren but all of them are their “heart” grandchildren) are also involved in raising money to help others. The kids made crafts to sell at the silent auction for the Seneca event as well as other fundraising endeavors such as making bracelets like the one that Alice gave me. They give them to survivors for free.

Free bracelet given by Alice Wells and created by her grandchildren

The family has been attending Relay for 14 years, 3 years at the Seneca event. They continue to support not only ACS Relay for Life but also each other, their family and anyone they meet (like a woman from Michigan).

­­­­­­­Diane and Lyle Rottinghaus

I met Diane who had breast cancer in her early 20’s but what is even more amazing is that she is a 50-year survivor!!! She had a lump that the doctors felt would become cancer so she had a mastectomy. Within 10 years she developed cancer in the other breast so she had that one removed as well. Diane didn’t have any additional treatments (no chemo and no radiation). She says there isn’t much else to tell since the surgeries were all that was needed to cure her cancer.

Diane and Lyle Rottinghaus

Her husband Lyle, a farmer for 54 years, also had cancer. His cancer started with melanoma, then a brain tumor (non-cancerous), and a spot in his stomach that became cancerous. He had chemo for the stomach cancer. The melanoma came back with spots below his eye, behind his ear, behind his neck and one on his nose.

Diane joked with Lyle one day that the only thing that hadn’t gone wrong with him was his feet, and the next day his toenail fell off!

Lyle found his melanoma when he had a pimple or wart like growth that just didn’t go away, so he went to the doctor. A biopsy was performed and the doctor told the Rottinghaus’s it was melanoma. He asked them to set up an appointment for Lyle to have some lymph nodes removed and tested. Lyle explained the doctor said he had good news and bad news. The good news was they got all the melanoma; the bad news was Lyle had a tumor on his brain. He had brain surgery two days later to remove the non-cancerous tumor.

Then Lyle had a “tummy ache”. The doctor took some blood and a “picture”. Two days later they received a call saying he had stage 2 stomach cancer. That world wind started as he dealt with another type of cancer. Lyle had 6 rounds of chemo, several surgeries, and continues dealing with the side effects of the treatments. Melanoma has attacked other parts of Lyles’ body as well but he gets the cancer removed and he just keeps going!

This couple is a hoot! They shared stories from their farming days and the relationships they had with their neighbors. The tricks they used to play on the couples that they shared their lives with were hilarious. I loved the stories Lyle told about hand fishing (yes, catching fish with your hands) and the tricks he, Diane and their neighbors used to play on each other. It sounded like a blast living next to this wonderful couple.

They have faced a lot in their lives so far. Diane having cancer at such a young age must have been scary to a couple just starting out their marriage. As well as all the different attacks of cancer that Lyle has faced over the past 10 years. You can see the love and respect they have for each other. They lived and worked on a farm for many years but are now living in a place closer to the city. Their lives are a little slower now but there is still a twinkle in their eyes as they know the importance of finding a cure to cancer along with the time spent with the ones you love.

Relay staff are more than just volunteers

The team of volunteers/workers at the Seneca Relay were involved for many reasons.

Left to Right: (front row) Dennis Schmitz, Misty Blume, Shirley Claas, Carolyn Zeller

(back row) Kristena Bowles, Joan Buessing, Karen Buessing, Kristy Wilhelm, Alicia Keegan, Denise Mozal

Joan Buessing said that she relays because not only has she had two close friends who died from cancer but also because her mom and dad have dealt with cancer as well. She says there needs to be more research to get rid of this disease.

Shirley Claas, a retired teacher, said she relays in honor and memory of friends and relatives who have been touched by this disease as well as to bring awareness to the community. She had a cousin that passed away last year and he was only in his early 60’s.

Kristy Wilhelm relays because cancer runs through her family quite heavily as she has had grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and her mom were all touched by cancer. She relays because she wants to remember those family and friends who have lost their battles, but also to show to the survivors and those still battling cancer how amazing these communities that we live in are and how many people support them and the fight to find a cure!

Misty Blume relays because there is too much cancer in the world. She lost all 4 of her grandparents to cancer, she lost her sister-in-law a few years ago which is why they started a team, and a few months ago another sister-in-law diagnosed. Misty said there just needs to be a decrease in this disease!

Kristena Bowles started relaying because of Misty (at first) but then she decided that she relays for everyone. Her great grandparents on her mom’s side all had cancer and her dad has had several friends affected as well.

Karen Buessing relays because she lost a son-in-law to melanoma at a young age. Like the others, Karen wants a cure to all cancers.

Alicia Keegan relays for those that cannot make it out to walk due to cancer. She walks for those that cancer has taken, including her dad and father-in-law, other family members and some of her best friends. She walks so her kids do not get cancer. She walks so we can wipe out those words “you have cancer”.

Many of the people on the team joke about the fact that they relay because Alicia Keegan calls them but it is obvious that they each have a very personal reason to be involved as well. There was a lot of fun, camaraderie and joy at this event tempered with a huge desire to have cancer eradicated from our world!

Omaha, Nebraska - July 15, 2017

I really appreciated the help I received on my accommodations from the Courtyard by Marriot and Christine Bleich from American Cancer Society for setting the accommodations up for me. The hotel was wonderful and very close to the Relay of Omaha.

The event was held at Stinson Park at Aksarben Village and the venue was wonderful. There was a covered stage for not only announcements and music but there was a live singing group. A lot of the community attended for the concert, which helps bring more awareness to the people who may not normally attend a Relay for Life event.

FUN FACT: Aksarben is Nebraska spelled backwards

The walking path for the Relay at Stinson Park

Lots of team participants

One of the team tents at Relay (selling decorated bras to raise money)

The Relay arch at Omaha’s Relay for Life

The band High Heels on stage at the Relay

Andy Loftis

I met a young man named Andy Loftis who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer at the age of 41 (no way does he look like his age but he says “I don’t feel a day over 51” – funny guy!). Andy went to his primary doctor last June (2016) after about 2 months fighting some type of lung infection that he thought turned into bronchitis. He had tried using over the counter medication and he would feel a better for a little while but then it would come back. It was just not going away. The doctor agreed it was bronchitis and prescribed an inhaler and an antibiotic. On his way out the door though the doctor said they should get an x-ray. It was a good thing he had the x-ray because the doctor found a tumor in Andy’s lung.

Cindy Loftis, Rod Loftis, Andy Loftis and me

Andy Loftis was a smoker several years ago but he had quit and had no issues. Because of the tumor shown in the x-ray Andy was sent for a CT scan and based on those results he was referred to a pulmonologist, who then sent him for a PET scan. The PET scan showed many things not mentioned when it was reviewed with Andy originally but a biopsy was suggested. Andy was told that they could tell it was cancer but they didn’t know exactly what type, stage, etc. because they didn’t have all the labs back yet.  A couple of oncologists were suggested for Andy and luckily he has several nurses in his family to help him make an informed decision on who might be best suited for him. His sister-in-law is one of those nurses and Andy says he has “absolute faith” in her, and she was already compiling a list for him.

His choice was Nebraska Medicine, the best place in town by far in Andy’s opinion. He says “the revolution in cancer is going to start right here in Omaha”.

The oncologist told Andy that they were going to look at this cancer from their perspective not what he’d already been told, so basically starting from the beginning. The PET scan had showed that there were multiple lesions in his bones going all the way down his spine and on both sides of his ribs. One tumor that the specialist didn’t mention had fractured his neck. The MRI showed the tumor in his neck was big and there was cancer in his brain. As he said, it was a rough day!

The doctor also wanted to check for a mutation. The results seemed to take forever. Andy has had such a rollercoaster of ups and downs. While waiting for the results Andy had 10 radiation treatments to shrink the tumor that was causing pain in his neck. The radiation completely eradicated the tumor. When the lab results came back they found that he had a mutation which was good because it allowed Andy to use Tarceva, a targeted therapy for all types of cancer, as his first line of defense instead of having chemo. He now takes the Tarceva pill every day.

The results of Tarceva that he started last July showed the cancer in the brain was gone in October and November showed all the lesions were gone except the primary tumor. The primary tumor was 21mm when it was originally discovered but in February it had shrunk to 4 mm. The side effects can be challenging and Andy has some pretty rough days but his job is very understanding and he is able to work from home when necessary. Luckily he says he has lost very little time from work.

The hard part is at some point the Tarceva will stop working but for now he has been extremely lucky. Andy has seen where the medication has stopped for working for some people in 2 months but he has a friend that has been on it for 6 years and is doing fine.

Andy says it’s tough because lung cancer doesn’t get the same focus as some other types of cancer and when you have stage 4 cancer waiting for someone to pay enough attention so that more research to be done is frustrating.

In his family medical background Andy was surprised at how much cancer was in his family. His grandparents, who were heavy smokers, both died from lung cancer. The doctor doesn’t believe that lung cancer is genetic so Andy connected with a place that did a deeper dive in his genetic background. They also don’t believe it is genetic. Andy said it doesn’t matter if it is genetic at this point, it is more important to eradicate this cancer.

Most survivors and caregivers will tell you that the relationship with the doctor is as important as the course of treatment. Andy loves his doctor. His family put together a fundraiser the night before the Relay and his oncologist and two nurse case managers came with their spouses. As he said, they are part of his family now. It is hard as a patient to keep from being concerned, especially as a patient that has a more advanced cancer.

He has found that the anxiety that goes with stage 4 cancer can get to you. When he was talking with his doctor in February he was told he could wait for scans until August, which is such a long period of time when you are fighting for your life.

Someone asked Andy what it was about his doctor that made her special. Andy said “It wasn’t really a medical thing, most cancers have a road map,” but the difference for him is the empathy and caring his doctor has for him. The doctor told him that she wanted him to let her worry about what was going on because it is her job and she had his best care in mind. At first Andy was not comfortable with the span of time before his next scan but as he walked to his car he realized she was right. It is her job to take care of him and he found he could finally let that anxiety go. For the most part his days are not consumed by fear and thoughts of cancer, but he also says there are days when that fear creeps in for a little bit. Most people I’ve talked with about their checkups, whether getting scans, blood tests, or whatever it is that is used to check where their health is, waiting for results are nerve-racking and Andy is no exception.

Andy considers himself very fortunate. The epiphany that came to Andy is the fact that he was dying and he didn’t even know it. If he hadn’t been diagnosed when he was he would not be here. He also says because of the speed in which he was diagnosed and that they found the tumor in his lung, the original source of his cancer, instead of finding the one in his neck which was a secondary tumor….he most likely wouldn’t be here sharing his story with me.

A person’s outlook can make a huge difference in how they deal with their cancer, how well they do with treatments, and even their overall health. Andy’s view is amazing especially now that he is feeling better. He finds that getting involved with Relay and other survivors have really helped. Andy and his family are very close. His sense of humor and attitude has made this past year a little more bearable. He enjoys photography and every day as he lives life!

Stacey Atkinson

Stacey Atkinson had stage 4 uterine cancer that was discovered on August 12, 2011. Stacey had been having some trouble with heavy periods so she wanted to talk to her doctor regarding something she heard about, uterine oblation. Only being 47 she had heard that it helped to stop periods, but the test she had showed something Stacey hadn’t been prepared for. The doctor said she had cancer and gave Stacey a pathology report and a surgeon’s name. What a shock to go from thinking you needed a minor procedure to help alleviate heavy periods to having stage 4 uterine cancer!

Me and Stacey Atkinson

Originally Stacey was supposed to have robotic surgery to remove her uterus but she had too much scar tissue from having two C-sections. Stacey said it is a blessing that they had to do abdominal surgery because the lesion on her abdominal wall would have been missed, it was outside the uterine wall. Normally patients aren’t told what stage their cancer is until the extent of their cancer is determined. If the lesion was missed Stacey would have been staged incorrectly and her plan of attack for treatments might have been less aggressive than it should have been. She also had cancer in 7 of the 35 lymph nodes that were tested.

Stacey was a bit upset with her doctor because he told her he believed she was more likely to succumb to her disease than she was to survive it. This was not an acceptable viewpoint for Stacey so she sought a second opinion.

At the University of Nebraska Medical Center she found Dr. Steven Remmenga. He did say it was an advanced case and it was going to be an uphill battle. Stacey asked him if he thought he could help her and the doctor said he wouldn’t have taken her case if he didn’t think he could help. He did tell her she had a 10% chance of a 5-year survival but he was willing to fight with her!

Stacey has 2 sons but she doesn’t believe this type of cancer is hereditary. Actually she is part of a wonderful blended family with Stacey having 2 sons, her husband has a son and a daughter, and they have 3 kid-in-laws and 6 grandchildren.

She said that looking back she realizes she was having issues for at least 6 months before she was diagnosed. She just thought it was the beginning effects of menopause. Sometimes she says she feels survivor’s remorse, knowing that there are people who have lost their battle with this disease even though their cancer was detected earlier. She realizes survival is a gift so she said it is important for her to give back to the community and to fight for an end to cancer.

Stacey is at 6 years survivorship and has been in remission since May 2012! She did 6 chemos and 25 radiations. Each radiation treatment was equal to 150 chest x-rays (which is a lot of radiation). Stacey started Relaying the spring after her treatments and has been on the committee for the past 3 years. She really loves being a part of these events but would love even more to be a part of the party where we celebrate the cure to cancer!!!

Michelle Shkolnick

I also met Michelle Shkolnick who is a 2-time cancer survivor and volunteer for the Relay as well. In 2001 she had stage 3 breast cancer at the age of 35. I said that she was so young when she was diagnosed and she said “yes but I’m still here at 52”.

Left to Right: Phoebe Shkolnick (mom), Michelle Shkolnick, Lisa Shkolnick (sister)

Michelle found her lump when she rolled over in bed accidentally jabbing herself. It hurt so she grabbed her breast. That’s when she felt the lump and the area around it felt hard. The next morning she got up and looked in the mirror. She said she had the telltale signs of breast cancer – puckering and the breast looked lopsided, which was different from before. She was taking her niece to Disney World in a couple weeks so she didn’t say anything to anyone.

When she got back from her trip she made an appointment for a Tuesday with her primary care doctor who sent her for a mammogram the same day, then Thursday she met with the surgeon, Friday was the biopsy, Monday she received the results and Wednesday had her surgery. Wow, that is a lot to take in within a very short time period. She had a mastectomy of her right breast. Michelle said if she had it to do over again she would have done things a little differently by having both breasts removed but things went so fast for her.

Michelle’s course of treatment was surgery, then chemo, then radiation. She said she also took Tamoxifen for five years followed by a Zoladex shot in the abdomen so she could take Femara (an aromatase inhibitor) for another 5 years. Her tumor was ductile, about 4 cm in size, and 5 of the 12 lymph nodes tested were affected. Almost a year after her first mastectomy, after all her treatments were complete, and Michelle was ready to be released from her surgeon she told him she wanted to have the other breast removed. He agreed and told her he would also remove her port if the breast didn’t look like there was any cancer. Her surgery was scheduled for April 1st.

What a hoot Michelle is. Michelle was very large breasted so there were bets going at her work as to how much her breast weighed. She forgot to ask at her first surgery to have the breast tissue weighed but she remembered the second time. She also wanted to keep her port (to put in a mason jar) so the day of surgery she wrote on paper tape and put it on her left breast “please weigh this breast and save this port”. She woke up in the recovery room and her port was still in so Michelle was a bit scared and asked for her doctor. She knew that still having the port meant there was possibly cancer again but when her doctor came in to the recovery room he told her not to worry that everything is ok. He misunderstood her surgical instructions. (He thought she wanted him to “save the port”, not to save it FOR her) Michelle said it looked like the April fool was on her that day! After Michelle healed from the mastectomy, the doctor removed the port.

One of the things that the doctors asked was if there was a history of breast cancer in Michelle’s family. Her answer was no because she was the first, however just 18 months later her mother was diagnosed with lobular in situ breast cancer. Her mom had a double mastectomy and required chemo but no radiation. Michelle’s mom was also at the Relay and doing well!!! There does not appear to be a hereditary factory to the breast cancer in the Shkolnick family, as Michelle and one of her sisters tested negative for the BRCA genes.

There were no other issues for several years but a few months after her Dad passed away from Alzheimer’s, in February 2013, Michelle hadn’t been feeling good. This kept happening all summer and her doctor thought she had an ear infection but that wasn’t the case. At the end of September that year she was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma at the base of her tongue, caused by HPV. Due to the size and placement of the tumor, it was inoperable. Michelle went through chemo and radiation and it was extremely difficult. She said no one really tells you how bad head and neck cancer is to deal with, because it was so hard! Everyday Michelle would tell herself “if this is as bad as it gets then I’m ok” but she said the next day would be tougher. She made it through the two tremendously hard months but it was very difficult.

Michelle is very involved with Relay, having been involved for over 15 years - from being team captain, to committee member, to Relay chair, to 2012 Hero of Hope for Nebraska. Michelle is a survivor, a caregiver, and continues to fight for the cure! In fact, there is going to be a Hope Lodge built in Omaha and one of the women on the Omaha volunteer team, Kim Joiner Sevening, had lost her father several years ago to cancer. He, too, was very involved with Relay. Kim auctioned off his very first Relay for Life shirt from 1997, with all the proceeds going to the Relay for Life of Greater Omaha, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. Michelle bought the shirt with plans to donate it to Hope Lodge so it can be place there in remembrance of Kim’s father. What an amazing thing to do!!!

Photo by Skip DeBusk Photography

Kim Joiner Sevening  and Michelle Shkolnick

For more information on the Hope Lodge in Omaha please click the link below:

https://www.cancer.org/treatment/support-programs-and-services/patient-lodging/hope-lodge/omaha/about-our-facility.html

Relaly of Omaha team

The team from the Omaha event is more like a family. They work together and, like every event I’ve attended, it really works. Below is a great picture of the 2017 Omaha team:

Photo by Skip DeBusk Photography

Back row left: Heather Schmit (Event Chair), Stacey Atkinson, Richard Atkinson, Krista Winter, Kim Sevening, Kari Hodoly (Event Chair), Laura Quist, Dianna Hite, McKenzie Marshall (ACS Staff), Shirley Reinert

Front row left: Angela Taylor, Megan Walker, YOU!, Michelle Shkolnick, Erica Zikas

McKenzie Marshall

I spoke with McKenzie Marshall’s mom, Brenda, before I chatted with her and you can tell how proud she is of her daughter.

McKenzie Marshall with her parents Miles Marshall and Brenda Marshall

McKenzie started a team when she was a freshman in high school after she lost a friend from cancer. She said that McKenzie said at that time that someday she was going to work for a non-profit. Lizzie’s death touched not only McKenzie but Brenda Marshall said that many of the kids in their class went on to work for non-profits or that type of work. It shows how one person’s life can alter the lives of so many others. And look, now McKenzie is working for American Cancer Society as Community Development Manager.

McKenzie and me

McKenzie signing the shirts

As with every event I attend these two events were emotional and encouraging and inspirational. The people continue to help me appreciate every day as we all look for the day when cancer is a disease of the past!

[westonucf]

Gregory Crewdson: Biography

Home and Education: Born in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, Crewdson played in a punk rock band “The Speedies” as a teenager, before attending the State University of New York at Purchase, where he earned his BFA, and completed his MFA at Yale University in 1988. As a child, his father practiced as a psychologist in his house. Since 1993, Crewdson has served as a professor at Yale University, where he continues to teach and work today.

Influence: He has cited the films ‘Vertigo’, 'The Night of the Hunter,’ 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,’ 'Blue Velvet,’ and 'Safe’ as having influenced his style, as well as the painter Edward Hopper and photographer Diane Arbus.

Insight:

Gregory Crewdson (b.1962) is best known for his photographs, which feature elaborately staged, surreal scenes of suburban life.

Gregory Crewdson’s images blur the boundaries between fiction and reality. The photos are real enough to be believable, yet Crewdson creates surreal “perfect moments” through controlled lighting and photographic techniques.

With production teams and set budgets that rival those of entire films, Crewdson chronicles moments of disconnect—downcast eyes, faces turned away—in expansive portraits of people lost in thought, isolated and inaccessible, both to each other and to the viewer.

“There are these very ordinary situations, and the light is being used as a narrative code to reveal the story. It also provides some possibility of transformation of the ordinary, which gives the images a certain theatricality."       

-Gregory Crewdson

Gregory creates images that resonate beyond the mere representation.

Production:

A shoot from beginning to end (6 p.m. to 9:15 p.m.) can be up to three hours. (Twight)

The images produced will end up selling for $80,000 to $100,000 per print, in editions of 10, so essentially it’s a million dollar shoot every time Crewdson decides to compose an image.

Setting and Framing:

The settings are ordinary (a suburban kitchen, a living room, a dark street corner)—and, more importantly, the frame is de-contextualized: we don’t know what happens before or after, or who these people even are.

Work Cited: 

"Gregory Crewdson - Bio." The Broad. Accessed April 15, 2019. https://www.thebroad.org/art/gregory-crewdson.

"Gregory Crewdson Biography – Gregory Crewdson on Artnet." Buy, Sell, and Research Contemporary Art Online: Artnet. Accessed April 15, 2019. http://www.artnet.com/artists/gregory-crewdson/biography.

GREGORY CREWDSON: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS. Accessed April 15, 2019. http://www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com/.

"Gregory Crewdson." Gagosian. Last modified April 12, 2018. https://gagosian.com/artists/gregory-crewdson/.

Moody, Rick. Twilight: Photographs by Gregory Crewdson. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2002.

[dailyaudiobible]

04/05/2017 DAB Transcript

Deuteronomy 28:1-68 ~ Luke 11:14-36 ~ Psalm 77:1-20 ~ Proverbs 12:18

Today is April 5th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. It is a big preparation day for us. The More Gathering for Women begins tomorrow, but we’ll talk about that maybe in a little bit.  We’re reading from the New International Version this week, Deuteronomy chapter 28, verses 1 through 68.  

Prayer

Father, we thank you for your word.  We thank you that day by day it instructs and guides us, speaks to the deepest recesses of our hearts and identity, changes the course of our day because it invites us to consider the choices that we make.  So we thank you for your word and we thank you for this community, that we can enjoy the counsel of the scriptures while enjoying the camaraderie and fellowship of our brothers and sisters.  So we invite you, Holy Spirit, to come.  Help us in the way that we choose to use our words today as we are counseled by wisdom herself in the book of Proverbs that recklessness with our words is like swords, but the tongue of the wise will bring healing. Help us to be people who bring healing today with our words and not reckless people swinging aimless swords, cutting down whoever happens to be nearby.  Come Holy Spirit, we pray.  In Jesus’ name we ask, amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It's home base.  It's where you find out what is going on around here, so tomorrow, tomorrow begins the More Gathering for Women and so we invite this entire community to pray over this event because it is of this community and for this community.  So pray over the women as they are packing up today, making sure everything is all set to go for tomorrow.  We’re kind of doing the same thing and so prayers specifically over all the technology involved, over safety in travel, that a canopy be raised over that camp, and that it might be an oasis, a place where lives will be transformed not because of anything that we do.  We’re just setting the table, but that space was given for Jesus to come.   So thank you for your prayers over all of this.  These are our prayers and love to wrap them all around the world.  

Then the other thing that we’ve been talking about for a couple days is Israel 2018.  So we’ll be making the next pilgrimage to the land of the Bible in early ’18, February 19 through March 4, and that is going to be epic as ever.  It is most fascinating to watch the stories of the Bible come alive in their geographical location.  It is fascinating to just stand in places and turn around and just look in all directions and understand where you are standing, that these stories that we’ve been moving through this year, but for many of us have known for a long time, to just see them kind of take a new shape and texture because you’re standing in the middle of it is remarkable.  So you are invited and you can get all the information you would want to know at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  Just look for Israel 2018 in the Initiatives section or you can visit www.DailyAudioBibleIsrael.com.  That will take you there as well.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, then thank you.  Couldn’t thank you enough.  We’re all in this together.  Thank you for your partnership.  There is a link that is on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com.  And if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner.  Or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

As always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today.  I'm Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Good morning, Dabbers.  This is Walta calling from Charlotte.  I usually call as the burning bush that will not be devoured for the glory of our God and King and I feel now, you know, like God sees me and he knows my name and I think that season is over.  But anyway, I'm calling just to praise God for this prayer line.  I'm going to pray for our sister from the Bahamas and pray about the Bahamas election.  Father God, I pray that you protect your people in that country.  I pray for peace and stability.  I come against every spirit of chaos that would want to cause confusion in that country, Lord.  I pray that, Lord, that you who select the kings will select a leader, Lord, and prepare the people to receive the leader, God.  I thank you for protecting your people.  I thank you, Lord, for peace.  I also pray, O God, for Liberia that is also going to go through elections this year. And every other country that struggles through this period I pray for peace.  I pray for stability, in Jesus’ name.  Father God, I also want to pray for all the single people out there.  I pray, O Lord, that you will help them to find you in the middle of their solitude, God.  That they are not alone.  I pray that you would find them community, O Lord.  Guide them to your children, into community, in Jesus’ name. Family, I just want to thank you for your prayers and your prayer requests and just sharing the word of God. I listened to today's, April 2nd, and it really moved me, especially Jaymie from Phoenix.  I love you guys and I will be in touch. Bye.  Have a great Sunday.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community.  This is Drew from Dallas.  I’ve been listening since October 2016 and this is my first time to call. Brian and Jill, thank you so much for creating this helpful podcast and this wonderful life-giving community.  I would like to encourage and pray for Stanley from Maryland.  He's a first year teacher in Washington, D.C.  Stanley, I’ve been a teacher for more than 10 years and I understand what you’re going through.  There are times when teaching can be such a thankless job and the students challenge and stretch you beyond your limit.  You should know that you very well may be the only positive influence in the lives of these students and that they are pushing back against you because they need you and they need Jesus.  Father, thank you for giving Stanley this opportunity to serve you and his students.  Help him to know that you have called him to be where he is today.  Help him to rest in your presence.  Holy Spirit, give Stanley confidence, patience, and wisdom to plan meaningful and relevant lessons that will engage his students. Grant him the faith to know that he is working in this school to minister to students who need him and who need you.  Help him to build positive relationships with his students that will lead to a healthy classroom full of learning.  Jesus, let your light through Stanley.  Walk with Stanley through this.  Help Stanley to follow you and to trust you.  Sustain and strengthen him through this.  Help him to rely on you each and every day.  Thank you, Jesus.  It's in your name we pray.  Amen.  

Family, Biola from Maryland.  I hope you’re all doing well.  Brian and Jill, God bless you.  Jill, I'm praying for you and the More Conference and every single woman that will be going.  I'm praying for your team and I'm praying for all the speakers, equipment, everything, in the name of Jesus.  Father Lord, I begin to pray order into every event that will be happening, O God.  I pray safety, O God, for everyone that will be going, in the name of Jesus.  There will be no accidents, O God, in the name of Jesus.  And Father, Lord of Heaven, I decree and declare, O God Lord, that every woman that will go there will not remain the same way, O God, that you will meet with each person at the point of their need, in the name of Jesus. prophetic Intercessor, I heard with such anguish your prayer request.  Sister, I'm praying that God would comfort you.  Look, give yourself time, okay?  I'm praying Psalm 18:32 over you.  The he Lord is your rock and your fortress.  Your deliverer.  Your God. Your strength.  In him you will trust.   He is your shield and the horn of your salvation.  Your stronghold.  And Psalm 18:32  says it is God who arms you with strength and makes your way perfect.  Sister, I want to encourage you to look for a Divorce Care support group in your area.  Just go to that website, www.Divorcecare.org and plug in your zip code.  And you know, get into a community of people who are going through the same thing and who can also help you and empathize with you.  I’ll keep praying for you, sister.  God bless you.  And Rich or Rick, the guy who said he fell off the wagon, Victorious Solider has already told you everything that I had on my heart.  Way to go, sister!  So brother, I'm praying for you even as you get up, that you will grow stronger.  In the name of Jesus.  Jonathan, I'm praying for your dad, Pastor Ted, and I'm praying for you. Jacqueline, I'm praying that every cancerous cell in your body will die, in the precious name of Jesus.  God bless you.  

Hi, this is Denise calling from California and this is my first phone call and I’ve just recently started to listen to the Daily Audio Bible on my podcast and it has been amazing.  But I'm calling specifically for my mother and for my family.  My mom who is 83 years old has been falling lately and is in the hospital and nursing home and I'm just asking and the whole community, if you would just pray for her, healing of her body, but most importantly for her heart and her mind and her spirit.  It has gotten her very down and that is not the woman I remember for all my life.  So I so thank you all because I’ve heard the different prayer requests and the people calling and it is just amazing to me and I so enjoy it. I so thank each and every one of you who do call in and make this requests.  So I pray for Ethel Q., for her healing, both physically and mentally and spiritually and that she would be well because she is a true and faithful servant.  I also want to pray for my sister, Toni, and my Aunt Diane and the rest of my family members, that they too would come to know God personally and always walk in his steps to bring him glory.  I pray for my family locally, that they would be healed both physically and mentally and also come to know Christ as their personal Savior. Thank you and God bless each and every one of you.  Have a blessed day.  

Good morning DAB.  This is Loralee.  Heavenly Father, I would like to lift up all the women going to the More Conference.  I pray that you bless the worship of their hearts, souls, minds, and bodies.  I pray that you give them rest and reprieve in Christ Jesus.  I pray that you bring personal healing and holiness in their lives where they have more perfect sight of you, the more beautiful object, Jesus, where they have the more perfect appetite of you, the sweeter the food of your word, the more musical in the ears, the more pleasant in the melody of you singing over us, the more complete of their soul and the more happy, the joy that brings.  And grant them more full knowledge of you, Lord Jesus.  And I pray that they will dwell with the family of God, standing in your presence, in your chamber, being the bride of your kingdom, the spouse of Christ and a member of his body with him.  We are all one with you and the Father.  Please exercise all the spiritual powers, gift of grace, body and soul in the enjoyment of you.  And we praise you, all of us women, we thank you and our families while they wait for us to just be like Mary and sit at your feet and choose the better portion this weekend.  I pray for all the safety and just a more deeper walk with you, our Lord Jesus Christ. In your name and for your glory and our good, amen.  You all have a great time.  

[jacewilliams1]

Visiting the Mooney family

From the April 1976 issue of Flying magazine:

“HOT DAMN! I done bought myself an airplane! A used Mooney. A hangar queen. It had 700 hours; it was seven years old. I bought all that trouble and glory.  My own flying machine. After having the airplane crazies since I was a kid and renting airplanes for 20 years thinking I couldn’t own one, my Diane cut me loose for it.

“Go on, it’s only money. You’re 50 years old and you got about 20 good, juicy summers left. When they pat you in the face with that shovel, you can’t come back and wish you’d bought an airplane. Airplanes have always been so much of your life. Go on, enjoy, enjoy!”

And so, with help from the Internet, I retrieved this article from Flying magazine, and read again one of Gordon Baxter’s most inspiring articles: the purchase of his beloved Mooney Ranger. I first read this story in 1976 and the memory of it has been with me for many, many years. Even though I am the owner of a Piper Archer, I have always had a thing for Mooneys and the people who build them.

Life sometimes takes you to places you never expect to be, and I recently found myself in Bandera, riding a horse at the Mayan Dude Ranch as part of a family visit to San Antonio. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was only 25 miles from Kerrville, Texas, the home of Mooney, and so many stories.

A distinctive design – and company.

I was given a hall pass the next day, drove to Kerrville, and turned on to Al Mooney Road. I parked myself in front of the guard shack with the intent of visiting the place. I was greeted warmly by Mike, the security guard, and told him that I wanted to learn more about the people of Mooney, and would attempt to write a story about the Mooney family. He appreciated my efforts, but told me that tours were not available during the time of my visit. He was gracious enough to provide the business card of their employee relations manager, Devan Burns, gave me a 70-year Mooney Anniversary Sticker, and encouraged me to visit next time I was in the area. Mike is a class act!

Anytime I see a quality product or company that has been around for a long time, I know there are quality people that make it happen. Usually these folks have persevered through tough times, supported each other, and dedicate themselves to producing the best quality product or service year after year. I was convinced the reason Mooney is still around would be the people, and I wanted to see this for myself. Yes, it’s a powerful airplane, but powerful people had to be the reason they’ve survived, I hoped.

I left Mooney that first day knowing that I had tried, but realistically knowing that last-minute requests have little chance of success. Before I left the parking lot, however, I wrote a note on my iPad to Devan, asking if I might be able to come back the next day and interview a few of the Mooney people who make it happen. I never expected a reply. After all, it was late Thursday afternoon and we were leaving Saturday morning. Quite frankly, I felt a bit foolish even asking.

So, I was very surprised to receive a response on Friday morning saying if I could be in Kerrville by 1:30 pm on Friday, Devan would arrange for a tour of the plant, followed by a visit with her before I left. I couldn’t believe it, and was granted another hall pass by “you know who” to make the trip.

So, please bear with me as I tell you about the fascinating people I met on a Friday afternoon in February at the Mooney plant.

Larry “The Rain Man” Jacoby was my host for the day. Larry was first employed by Mooney in 1978 at the height of the 201 production. He is known as “The Rain Man” because of his extraordinary recall of part numbers and their locations in the plant, where he now works in receiving. He has been employed four different times by Mooney, and continues to be a dedicated employee.

The first stop on my Mooney adventure was the completion center, where a beautiful Acclaim Ultra was receiving the finishing touches before delivery to a customer. New airplanes make for pretty pictures, but seeing a brand new one in person is a totally different experience. The beautiful color scheme, the smell of a fresh leather interior, plus the feeling of extreme speed, are unmistakable. I know that, as pilots, we look at performance specifications, mission profiles, etc. when we make airplane decisions, but I’m convinced that pure emotion has a great deal to do with it.

The next stop was the welding shop. Next time you look in the engine compartment of most Mooneys, think of Rick Heimann. Rick has worked for Mooney for 41 years, and welds the steel engine supports along with his partner, Earl Sevey, who has been with Mooney twice, the first time for four years, and the second time for seven. These folks just don’t give up. Rick has worked on the early C and E Model Mooneys, and was welding the engine support for a new Acclaim while I was there. It was the beginning of a fascinating day.

Many employees at Mooney have been with the company for decades.

Mooney makes nearly everything on site. My next stop was the machine shop and hammer house, where metal is molded into airplane parts by huge hydraulic presses that tower above. I met Sonny Hutchinson, who took me through the formation of the wing primary skins. Think of Sonny and his crew next time you see the flush-riveted leading edge of a new Mooney Ovation. I saw complete wing spars, wing ribs, and bulkheads, all freshly manufactured.

The new Mooney management has invested heavily in modern equipment. In the lay-up room, I met Mike Feller, Debbie Weise, and Julie Meador. Although Mike has been with Mooney over 40 years, he and his team adapted to a new vacuum-assisted digital lay-up process for composite parts that eliminated hand shears that have been used for years for laying up fiberglass parts. Debbie’s daughter, Shana, works for Mooney as well. So many families had their start at Mooney: Husbands and wives first met and went on to have families who all have worked for Mooney. It is a family experience here.

In the shear room, I saw how dedicated Mooney is to continuing their commitment to strong airframes made of metal. Their new Flow ultra-high pressure cutting machine uses 53,000 lbs. of water pressure to cut digitally guided designs in thick metal parts, without burrs and additional finishing. Larry Jacoby started in this room in 1978, when the 201s were first being built.

The wing makes a Mooney special, and seeing the entire one-piece wing on a jig in the sub-assembly room was something to behold. I thought I was watching a fighter being built. Next time you see a photo of a new Mooney, think of Clifton Leda and his team, who sealed the fuel tanks and assembled the interior of the wing. The care being taken to make this airplane first class is extraordinary.

I had a special introduction to Lucy Hernandez and Nora Havran in the upholstery shop, who make the custom upholstery for the sturdy seats now found in the new Ovation and Acclaim. They are extraordinary people who take extraordinary care installing customer-chosen leather on sturdy seat frames made totally in-house at Mooney.

My final stop was seeing a new Continental engine being mounted on an Acclaim going to a lucky buyer.

One can’t help noticing the second door that is part of every Mooney now being manufactured. I wonder what Gordon Baxter would have thought of the second door on a new Mooney. Would he buy a new one? I’d expect he’d probably hang on to his old Ranger.

I remember the picture showing 30 workers standing on the wing of a Mooney. Will any of the readers remember their names?

Yes, the wing is strong, but the people who make them are extraordinary. I feel so fortunate that I had a chance to meet them.

Whatever airplane you choose to buy, I’d recommend that you meet the people who build them. It would be good to know that they have your back when flying at 20,000 ft.

Excuse me, I meant to say 25,000 feet, if you’re flying a Mooney Acclaim Ultra!

The post Visiting the Mooney family appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2019/05/visiting-the-mooney-family/

[rickq178]

(ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ *:･ﾟ✧  SEVEN  TOPIC  THINGS  about  your  muse  !

NAME OF YOUR MUSE .    Rick Sanchez

ONE PICTURE / ICON OF THEM YOU LIKE .

TWO THINGS YOUR MUSE REGRETS .

Rick regrets being stupid enough to marry the first girl who was ever nice to him. That girl was Diane. They married shortly after she graduated high school. Rick dropped out during junior year, though she convinced him to get his GED later, thinking his success depended on having a solid education.

While Rick loves his daughter, Beth, he regrets the fact that he had been stupid enough to give into society’s herd instincts of having a family. He believes Diane would have been better off without ever meeting him.

THREE PHOBIAS / FEARS YOU MUSE HAS .   

Rick despises spiders. He’s feared them as long as he can remember. He knows how only four species in Florida are venomous, but it does not stop him from tensing up in the presence of any variety. He has a hard time killing them, even with a laser gun. He’ll freeze up and stare at them for a long time, only springing into action when the spider moves quick and fast. As of late, he tries to get Mimi and Ricky to kill spiders for him if they’re around.

Sobriety terrifies Rick. He cannot imagine living a day perfectly straight. With how he’s abused his body over the years, he needs to drink each day to avoid alcohol withdrawal. And even when he’s not partying, you can catch him snorting a bump of K-lax or coke early in the morning with his coffee. He uses drugs and alcohol in excess to escape from the realities of the world. He does not like dealing with real emotions.

Speaking of real emotions, love scares Rick more than any other. Familial love bothers him, as it makes him more loyal and caring than he’d ever admit, but being head-over-heels over someone is what keeps him up at night. He always tries to tell himself how love is just a chemical that compels animals to breed. He tells himself fucking is more honest and efficient than making love. He thinks staying tied down to one person is nearly impossible. However, this logic hasn’t kept him safe from falling in love with Ricky.

FOUR HEADCANONS YOU HAVE FOR THEM THAT YOU NEVER TOLD ANYONE .

Rick was not one of the cool kids growing up. In fact, he was a nerd all throughout school. It didn’t matter quite as much in grade school, but middle school and high school were low points in his life. Jocks liked stuffing him into lockers and giving him swirlies. Nobody ever invited the science geek to their parties. Rick always told himself one day he’d be too cool for all of them, but in reality he just wanted a place where everyone could hang without it being some lame popularity contest.

Since sometimes science is more art than science (and a lot of people don’t get that), Rick took up playing guitar at age thirteen. One of the first songs he successfully covered was Don McClean’s “American Pie.” Between playing the guitar and conducting science experiments, he kept himself occupied enough to forget about the fact that nobody really liked him at school.

Shortly after Rick married Diane, he discovered intergalactic travel via portal gun. During his travels of the multiverse, Rick met both Birdperson and Squanchy at a wild party on planet Klutox. The three became fast friends. It didn’t take long for them to form a band, though their version of the Flesh Curtains had a New Wave twist. He invited Diane to come along on their tours, though she seldom came since she told Rick how holding down her job and paying the rent on their shared apartment mattered, too.

Diane hoped the birth of their daughter would finally make Rick calm down, but Beth’s birth only made Rick intergalactic travel and partying increase. He had trouble coming to terms with the fact he’d actually brought another human life into this already overpopulated world. He had no idea how to raise her right, still being relatively young himself and without a great example from his own father. He often came home totally wasted. One time, while playing airplane with his daughter drunk, he accidentally dropped young Beth, giving the poor girl a concussion and a trip to the ER. This put a serious wedge between Diane and Rick, and she never trusted him to be alone with their daughter again.

FIVE THINGS YOUR MUSE HAS ON THEIR BUCKET LIST .  

Tell Ricky he loves him

Discover every way in the multiverse to get high

Have Mimi feel at home in his dimension

Throw the greatest party of all-time

See his original Morty graduate for Beth and then come home to him

SIX THINGS YOUR MUSE LIKES DOING IN THEIR FREE TIME . 

Partying

Adventures that end up being drug deals nine times out of ten

Watching movies, especially ‘80s movies with Ricky, Mimi, and Moony in the movie room at his mansion.

Chilling on the beach

Pestering Mortimer and Merty

Being extremely gay with Ricky

SEVEN PEOPLE THAT YOUR MUSE LOVES / LIKES .  

Miami Morty - Rick’s original grandson, who’s currently attending a boarding school a couple hours away from him. Rick originally sought Miami out for camouflage against the Galactic Federation, but their relationship quickly became so much more than that with countless adventures while Rick took a year off from his club. Rick groomed Miami into the finest dancer Blue Velvet ever saw, only for it to all be taken away from him when the family became wise to the situation. Even without his trademark blond locks, Miami still retains the sass and confidence Rick instilled him with. He also accepts Mimi and trusts him to take care of his grandfather.

Ricky (@protegc) - The new love of Rick’s life! He never thought he’d love again after what happened in the past with Diane, but bam! There’s Ricky to fuck up the status quo. While they haven’t known each other for long, Rick already knows he loves Ricky. And it scares him to death. He doesn’t want to have something beautiful with someone and ruin it all somehow. He also thinks Ricky’s too good for him.

Mimi (@miamihxtness) - An alternate version of Rick’s grandson, Rick cares about Mimi a great deal, even though he wouldn’t readily admit that under normal circumstances. He’s grateful Mimi came with him the day he scouted him out. Even though the arrangement began as temporary, Rick hopes Mimi stays by his side for the rest of his days.

Moonrock (@moonrockshot) - An older Morty who’s a royal pain in Rick’s ass. This little shit makes his own club and drags Rick on adventures when he’s majorly hung over. Despite their constant spats, Rick actually has a soft spot for Moony. He wishes Moony would stick around more, but he doesn’t expect him to, as much as it pisses him off.

Miami C-114 (@sun-loving-boy) - An alternate version of his grandson, Rick feels a connection with the kid despite not knowing him well yet. This Morty looked after him when he was blackout drunk. Plus, he’s blond, sassy, and a bitchin’ dresser. What’s not to like?

Morty (@unlncky) - A Morty who Rick met in Mortytown. The two met only recently, but Rick finds himself wondering about how this Morty’s doing more than he’d like to admit. When he sneaks into Mortytown and manages some drug deals, he typically makes a point of seeking this Morty out to see if he’s still alive. He expects him to die of Space AIDS one day.

Doc (@emergency-rick) - A surgeon Rick who he doesn’t know well yet. Rick plans on having some fun with Doc soon...in a motel. Anyone who makes Rick feel sexy ultimately wins some points, even if he doesn’t remember them the next morning.

TAGGED BY :   the wonderful @mcrtimersmith! If there was a section on characters the muse hates/dislikes, Mortimer would be at the top of Rick’s list. x3 TAGGING :  anyone who wants to! ~