Mia Chandler

If I thought I was a hermit before I left for home, I have become far MORE of a hermit. I guess I just don't handle crisis well. At least not after the fact. My mom seems to think I'm awesome at keeping my cool under pressure. Yeah, well, mom, that's because you fall apart. And she did true to form. On the 5th of March, my dad had a heart attack. A big one. And it took 2 days for my mom to call me. I don't know what she was thinking. She was a TOTAL basket case when I got there. It was crazy. She always says my dad is the strong one, so she turns into a weeping crying mess when anything happens. And her favorite line is your father with handle it. Now I love you mom, but maybe if you handled some of this shit yourself, he wouldn't have had the damn heart attack?

I am apparently venting my frustration at my mother on my computer. The shrink at the hospital said this would be good for me. Since I don't have a lot of people to talk to, she said to keep a diary. So, I thought that was kind of lame so I'm putting here.

I had plans with Spencer that day. And I didn't even call. All I did was book a flight, take a cab to the airport, fly home and go directly to the hospital. And I have only been home since Thursday. But while I was there….man….I didn't stop. Not once. There was so much to do. Talk to doctors about the kinds of changes that had to be made when he came home, if came home. I mean at first, they weren't sure he was going to come home. He was supposed to have a triple bypass. But they wanted to try a stint first. And the stint worked, and is still holding. But if he didn't change the way things were, his eating habits, his stress levels, his exercise habits, he was going to end up having that triple bypass. So, I not only took over for things that needed to be dealt with, bill that needed paying, repairs that had to made on the house just…whatever had to be taken care of, I also had to make sure my mom went shopping and bought the right foods, and changed the recipes she made…and I am now exhausted.

I came home Thursday and slept until Saturday evening. Got up, ate a little and went straight back to bed until it was time for work Monday morning.

And now it's Tuesday and I'm thinking I need another week off just to recuperate.

My mom calls me all day asking about food and what to do when I left her instructions. For a while my dad is on a very strict (and yes, I know) very bland diet. But it's not forever. My mom seems to think he's going to starve. He just rolls his eyes and eats the fish and veggies she cooks and doesn't even complain. It's all in her head. But I love her dearly. I do. She's my mom. She just needs to see how this could have gone in the other direction and be glad that dad is okay, and that as long as she keeps up the healthy lifestyle he needs, he's going to be around for a very long time to come.

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Mariska Chandler was born to a Hungarian-Italian mother and an American father. Her parents met when Marshall, a bio tech engineer was sent over seas to help set up a new laboratory. It was there that he met Mia's mother, Anika, a young artist home from her college education in England. It was love at first site.

Six months later they were engaged and heading back to the US where Marshall planned to marry Anika and start a family. His next assignment sent him to New Jersey, where Anika got pregnant 6weeks after they moved in to their office leased home. Two weeks later they were married in a small civil ceremony before a justice of the peace.

And while her parents had gotten a very fast, very early start, they truly did love each other. Anika and Marshall had planned on getting married anyway and the conception of their daughter had just made it happen faster.

Mariska, Mia for short, grew up in a house filled with love. Her parents doted on her and indulged her, but she didn't grow up spoiled. She was bookish and very smart with a flair for art, like her mother, and got straight A's (especially in science) like her father. She was a combination of both her parents both in looks and in interests. She showed such an aptitude for both art and science that her parents had a feeling she was going to go into either science research or art. But she had shocked them one night at the dinner table when she informed them that she wanted to find a position that combined both her loves.

She spent her entire summer that year researching jobson the Internet until she finally came up with the perfect job. Art restoration. It combined her love of scientific research and art. And she started to gear her studies toward achieving this very attainable goal.

But because she had spent so much time working toward her ultimate job. She had friends, a couple of very close ones, but she was not into dating. Even in college she turned down date after date in favor of studying or reading. So, at the ripe old age of 24 she found herself a virgin in a time when sex was seemingly everywhere. And she seemed to be fine with her decision. But she had to admit that when she saw her parents she longed to find someone of her own who would love her like her parents loved each other.

And that is where we find Mia today, working in her dream job at the Chicago Institute of Art in the research and development department, wishing that one day she would find the man who would sweep her off her feet.

• loves her mothers Hungarian cooking



• is known by first name at the Barnes and Noble where she catches the train home every night



• wants desperately to visit Europe and go to all the museums there



• favorite color is cobalt blue



• always has top ramen in her cupboard



• listens to classical music while she works



• prefers tea to coffee



• loves mint and chocolate



• has never used a curling iron on her hair



• loves the show planet earth



• has never had a relationship with a man



• favorite artists are Seurat, Monet and Michelangelo



• loves john grisham and james patterson novels



• has read all of harry potter and sookie stackhouse novels



• cries when she watches dumbo. every time.