Sunday Morning Post, Vol. 3, #28 Her Hate List

One of the wonderful tributes to our late Anne Marie was simply titled, "She Hated Abba."  A reference to vowing to never post an Abba video on her Saturday Night Dance Party, it became a running joke among her fans in the blogosphere.  Of course I was more than happy to taunt her from the relative safety of my computer at the back of our living room,  a mere 10 feet away from her seat on the living room couch where the ranted, raved and posted.  

Fortunately she never threw objects at me (although Lord only knows how she was able to hold back that temptation over the years).  For me her bark was always worse than her bite.

With this in mind I will continue my occasional tribute to the love of my life with this entry about people (and things) she hated.  My aim is to give a more balance picture of her life and for my own selfish purpose allow her to live again in the blogosphere.

VEGETABLES

Like most of her dislikes I never heard her thoroughly rationalize her hatred of veggies.   She would munch on carrots occasionally,  but a full on salad?  Never!  Many women enjoy salads with relish,  or at least a low calorie vinagrette.  Others, like Warrior Queen,  may mention that there was something about the vegetables texture which would put them off.  Whatever!  It meant more salad for me and my balanced diet.

JOHN WAYNE

I don't recall her ever saying anything against his acting ability or a preference for one role over the other.  I think his hawkish stand on social issues butted up against her awareness of the world around her (late 1960's, Vietnam, civil rights) at the same time.   I understood why Wayne adopted such an Establishment posture. Aside from career concerns I heard he was trying to assuage his guilt about being 4-F (he had a family to support) during World War Two when so many other young men went in his place and never came back.

Warrior Queen could never compartmentalize between a persons beliefs and their career accomplishments.  She could not stand him in one respect, therefore, in her eyes, they were damned in all respects.  I think she was also influenced by her Uncle Andy who was very much a social progressive and against our involvement in Vietnam.  He was a member of a Franciscan order and completing his studies when he succumbed to cancer at an early age.  His loss affected her more than I could know.

GUY FIERI

Okay, his voice may be a bit off putting and his hair may not be the most attractive, but otherwise her feelings for this tv celeb has me stumped.  I doubt if she ever saw an episode of "Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives" since she had not watched any television in about two decades.  Again, whatever.   His series is one of my guilty pleasures as I watch him down tons of food which must send his cardiologist (that is if he has one) into apoplexy.

EVANGELICALS (and by extension) CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS

This is a no brainer: Anne Marie was a liberal progressive who did not believe that evangelicals attitudes of morality had any place in today's society.   Again, no effort to compartmentalize. This is not to say that she had no morals, rather a reaction against their insistence that their brand of one-size fits all morality was how all in society (your own opposing religious or cultural believes be damned) should live.  As she said many times, in her less salty moods, "Tain't fittin."

This is one feeling of hers which I could not disagree with.  I bristle against intolerance in any way, shape or form.  This was something that wasn't discussed when we first met, as if we somehow knew how the other felt and accepted it.  Somehow it was the same feelings we both already had and grew to share and nurture over the years. This is definitely one of my most cherished memories of our years together.  

ABBA

I've always liked their music, but WQ found their brand of Swedish bubble gum pop too sickly sweet for her taste.  Whatever, but she may have been on to something.  Can anyone really accept a former James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, flailing his arms back forth with a cast of thousands on a Greek isle to the tune of "Dancing Queen"?  Sometimes, my taste in music is shaken to its core....

And that's my short list...for now.  Anne Marie, like all of us, was not a perfect human being.  She had deeply passionate beliefs in most subjects.  Sill, she knew what or who she liked, and fortunately for us we got the chance to be among the privileged few that was in her good graces.

Ultimately these encounters with her, including mine which lasted 28 years, were all too brief.  

This time, I can't bring myself to shrug this idea off with a casual "Whatever." 

(Thank you for reading.)