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Zombies - Relationship Builders or Blood Thirsty Undead?



 Seems like a no-brainer right?  (Oh man I am on a roll today!)  Posed with almost ANY questionnaire about zombies I would be  the person viciously checking off the box beside Blood Thirsty Undead---over and over and over while looking around nervously, evaluating the odds of shoving  the pen into a zombie's brain without getting bit myself. 
 
I like to read or watch fiction about vampires, werewolves, witches, angels, daemons, jinn and other sorts of FICTIONAL creatures.  But for some reason, I don't lump zombies in there. To me, zombies could be real. 
 
Yah, yah, I know.

Stop laughing.
 
Or getting indignant. 
 
It just is.

Yes, this is my sword.

One minute they are human, the next minute they are walking human flesh eaters.  And no, I don't think it is odd that we have a sword on our wall in the living room (thank you Michonne).  And yes I thought World War Z was terrifying (even though my MOTHER, who took my step-father to see his first 3-D movie ever and chose to take him to THAT one) though it was silly, campy fun. Zombies freak me out.  And, they also freak-out my step-son (the Middle One).
 
I have been with The Spouse for 11 and a half years and engaged for 10 and a half of them (I can hear your smirk).  So the Middle One only knows me with his dad since he was 2 and a half. But, we have not been close.  Oh I can give a million excuses about not wanting to step on his mom's toes (he does not refer to me as mom---and I would not want my oldest calling his dad's new wife 'mom' so I have never made the request, nor he the offer), or jealous of how the Spouse seems to give him special leeway since he doesn't live with us; or resentment of how we have to juggle plans to pick him up and drop him off for ALL visits; and maybe it is a combo of all these things, I dunno.
 
What I do know is that during mid Season One of The Walking Dead.....the Middle One asked me if I watched it and I said yes.  Suddenly, we had something to talk about.  The Spouse doesn't watch so suddenly, we had a connection!  We talked animatedly about what was happening, what had happed and what we thought would happen.  As time went on, we rehashed the graphic novel plots and critiqued the decisions of the show to divert from the graphic novel plots into new territory.  This was crazy---now anyone and everyone was up for grabs!
 
That Christmas, I went online and found a Walking Dead t-shirt and ordered a replica Rick Grimes sheriff's ball hat for him.  He loved them! 
 
Season 2 only gave us more to talk about!  We shared predictions and gory details and excitedly
shared YouTube clips of the upcoming Season 3.  His birthday resulted in a custom made Darryl Dixon WWDD shirt (what would Daryl do?) which he immediately put on. 
 
The Middle one doesn't have cable.  So his jaw dropped on his weekend visit when I reminded him he could watch the first two episodes of Season 3 on Rogers on Demand.  He vanished to the basement.  Then we had lots to talk about!
 
So, should someone present me with a survey where I had to check off either that zombies were relationship builders or blood thirsty undead, and I bet there is THAT  survey out there, I would now have to take a moment and perhaps, ask if I could check off both boxes.
 
 
  

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