My Mother and Me

Today is my mother's 59th birthday. I took the day off from work to spend it with her. I do this every year because I believe birthdays should be celebrated no matter what age you are.

So I packed up my car with Oliver's left over food and treats (my mother has 2 indoor cats and feeds a slew of stray cats outside) and the tons of Wal-Mart plastic bags I had collected (she goes through them like water). I didn't buy my mother a gift this year because mainly I'm trying to save every little of bit of money I can for the possible strike next month.

I stopped and bought her a birthday cake...chocolate of course...on my way to her apartment. I arrive a little after 12:30pm. We stayed at her place for a little while before leaving to have lunch somewhere. Now my mother never goes out to eat unless I or someone else takes her. Her idea of going out to eat is McDonald's. I asked her where she wanted to go and she said she could try something different like....Wendy's. I just looked at her like she was crazy. I explained that we should go to a sit down restaurant and not a fast food place. She offered IHop since she had been there not too long ago and it was sit down. As you can see, my mom is all about the high dollar places.

I said we should drive around and see what places were available in her area. She pointed out a KFC and a couple of other fast food restaurants as we drove by. I just shook my head at her. During our driving around, McMargie returned my call and invited me to come visit her on my days off next week. I had called McMargie on my way to my Mom's to see if McMargie was available next Friday, her birthday. I hadn't seen her since her birthday last year and I thought I could make the 2 hour drive up to see her. I was only planning on staying the day, but she invited me to stay a couple of days. I was hesitant and said I would think about it.

After driving around for a while, Mom & I finally just ended up at IHop. The place wasn't crowded and the staff was extremely friendly. I tried to decide if I wanted breakfast or not and Mom said she wanted a cheese burger. When the waitress asked her if she wanted fries or onion rings, my mother said neither and opted for broccoli instead. BROCCOLI?! Who the hell eats broccoli with a cheese burger?! OLD PEOPLE! That's who!

Anyway, we talked while we waited for our food. We discussed movies, documentaries, the economy and my crazy life the past couple of months. It was a very pleasant and relaxed time.

After lunch we went back to her apartment. Mom wasn't interested in catching a movie or doing anything else. So we just hung out at her place talking, eating cake and watching TV all night. We watched so many different shows including a mini-marathon of a REPO show on Tru TV. We got the biggest kick out of the people getting pepper sprayed on there. Neither one of us had watched the show before and found it very entertaining.

I also tried to entice my Mom's male cat (I nicknamed him Buuuub-ba because he is so big & fat) for my own selfish reasons. I kept shaking a cat treats bag at him trying to get him to come close enough to me so I could grab him for a cuddle. He was too skittish though. Seeing and being around him just made me long for my Ollie. Man, I really miss my boy!

Mom tried to convince me to spend a few days with McMargie. She told me I need to get away and spend time with my long time friend. Plus I haven't seen McMargie's new baby daughter and she is over 6 months old now.

Spending time with McMargie has always been a very soul soothing experience for me. There is just something about being around her that makes me feel relaxed, loved and safe. It's kind of like a sanctuary for me. And I'm very protective and leery of using it too often. I guess I don't want to ever spoil it or lose that place for me.

So I left Mom's apartment around 1030pm. She hugged me and thanked me profusely for spending the day with her. I told her she never has to thank me for that. She never did hear from Baby Sister. Not that I'm at all surprised. My sister has never been one for birthdays except her own. I keep hoping she'll grow up one day. Maybe next year.