Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mom's Day: A salute to the ultimate Gothic Mom!


June Cleaver eat your heart out!


As the sun sets on Mother's Day at Bloodrose Manor, and as I didn't really have a role model for a mother, I'm thinking of the TV moms who I admire.

My first thought was Morticia Adams, but as I recall her Motherly behavior, I don't come up with too much as memorable from a maternal standpoint. The kids were there in the background, but Morticia was always just standing or sitting around being beautiful, being kissed by Gomez, or cutting the buds off the roses so she could arrange the thorny stems in a nice bouquet.

Then it hit me: Lily Munster. Yes, she's our own June Cleaver, with a lot of Goth thrown in. Lily Munster is one classy dame. June Cleaver may scurry about the house in pearls and high heels, but Lily has black lipstick and a cool bat pendent. A stay at home mom with a golden heart who is devoted to her family. She's a modern mom, even if the show was made in the 60's, as she has more than just her own wee lad, Eddie, to look after. Like many modern households, she has extended family living with her; Grandpa and her niece. Suffice it to say she really has her hands full. Grandpa, her father, is a vampire who can turn into a bat, but also a nutty professor and who knows what he'll get up to in that basement lab of his when she's not watching him. If anyone has had to endure the trying situation of an aging parent living with them, remember Lily did it too. She did it with firmness, patience and love. 

When I think of Lily, I recall her making breakfast for the family, or dinner in their little kitchen. With the family gathered around the table, she's standing over a steaming pot of ...what ever .....something gooey and slimy, and dishing up the family a hearty meal made with her dear little pale and lovely hands. Lily is a doer and shaker, the real backbone that holds everything together. She is a comfort to little Eddie when he's having a bad day, just like moms everywhere. I can see Little Eddie clutching his werewolf bear, who is dressed in matching striped pajamas that I'd guess Lily made for the teddy, and I can remember Lily soothing him, encouraging him or just being there to cuddle and comfort him with motherly devotion.


As a concerned Aunt Lily to her niece, Marilyn, Lily advises her on dating and on how to behave in high school. She encourages poor Marilyn with true motherly concern regarding her looks, which in truth Lily finds the girl plain and unlovely. Funny, as the Marilyn character is sort of a parody of Marilyn Monroe, but in this family she's the plain Jane ugly duckling. As a loving aunt, Lily does her best to mother the young woman and put up with her despite her weird appearance. Ah, yes, a goth mother with a sadly 'normal' looking child. I think Lily would have loved having Abby Scuitto from NCIS as a niece or daughter, don't you. Abby is just happy enough and quirky enough to fit in with the Munster clan.

Lily really has two children, if you count her ditzy husband, Herman. With him, she had her hands full, as he gets into one scrape after another and she lovingly and persistently tries to get him out of it. She lectures him, scolds him and in the end, she hugs the big lug, knowing damn well she knows best in this family (Father Knows Best, eat your heart out!).

So, in honor of Mothers everywhere, let's raise a glass of absinthe in praise of Lily Munster, our inspiring Goth Mom!

Watch this clip to see Lily in action as our devoted homemaker

Chills to you,

Lilith Bloodrose

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