A DAY OUT WITH MOM!

Mother's Day is this weekend.  Sure, I am a Mother. But I'm also a Daughter.  And in the morning on Mother's Day, I am the Mother.  But by evening...the Daughter.  The evening belongs to my Mother.

So, yes, even on Mother's Day, the evening dishes I will have to do!

In anticipation of this Sunday's Mother's Day evening, I have been doing a lil' reflecting and a lil' remembering on/of my day out with Mom...the one we had together just one month ago...the fun one...the one without my evil step sisters.  Did I say...evil?

And this is how it went!

Last month, during my mini post-writing hiatus, I thought A Day Out with Mom would be a good incentive to knock off the procrastination and get some things accomplished.  So after I got a few things crossed off my list, I felt like my mind, body and soul earned a way outta the house.  Out for a lunch, movie and a little chat time with Mom.

This is my Mom.

(disguised to protect the innocent)

The one on the left.  

She's pretty, huh!

We have many differences, but we do have two things in common.

1.  Humor
2.  Making Babies

We both like to laugh.  And we both have/had a uterus. And we used them!

But we are different.

She is very nice.  
I'm kinda nice. A little not-nice....just a little not-nice, sometimes.

She is very friendly.  
I'm kinda friendly.  A little stand-off-ish, at first.

She is very private.  
Me....not so much, anymore!

She is very sensible.  
I'm kinda sensible.  A little fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-ish.

She is composed.  
I'm a little too enthusiastic.  Maybe on the verge of inappropriate, at times.

She is a very good Catholic...both as a church goer and by example.
Me?  Well...I ran right out of that Catholic church into the arms of the Episcopal church, and, let's say, I'm not in those arms very often.  Also, I seem to slip up on my "by examples" maybe...a little...sometimes??!!

Long story, short.  She does.  I try.

But, I AM.
And that she gifted to me.......with her uterus.

So...last month it was time to spend a little time with My Mom.

The day arrives and I have finally trained her that the best way to get in touch with me is by e-mail...on my computer cell phone text machine.  For next time, I will train her to text.  Sad that the communication in a mother and daughter relationship must come down to a text machine...but things change!  And thank gosh my Mom is a willing participant of the ever-changing things.  This forces her guarantees that she will spend time with me.  That is, if she wishes to write say more than four words to me in a single communication.

See?  A method to my madness!

So she e-mails me, "What time?"  I respond, "11:15."

So I take the day off.  A Wednesday.
I pick the eating facility.  Coral Tree Cafe.
She picks the movie.  "The Music Never Stopped."
She drives over in her car.
We leave in my car, and we're off on our Mother Daughter Wednesday Adventure.

We decide the earlier we get to the eating facility, the longer we have to chat.  We haven't chatted for quite a while.  There's a little catching up to do.  Because the movie begins at 1:40, we decide to get to the eating facility by 11:30 for more of that chat time.

We enter the Coral Tree Cafe and are thankful they have "honest food."  At least that's what this eating facility calls their "healthy and organic" food.  Mom and I both happen to be over 30 (no, not lbs., certainly not stones....30 years), so low calories and no oils are essential if we are going to make it through that movie.  So we step up to the counter, and one Chinese Chicken Salad, a Sonora Salad, two waters, and a fight for who pays later, we grab the bestest table in the place, take a seat, and chat as we wait for our meals.

With mouthfuls of food, we continued to chat about what each other has been up to...she talks about her friends...I talk about my friends.  We do leave the evil step sisters out of our conversation this time.  Did I say evil?  And I don't even think we mention the brother.  But there is lots of talk of grand kids...all grand kids...her grand kids. She gives me lots and lots of compliments.  'Cause that's what moms do.  And I like that.  And through our gobs and gobs of food, we laugh and laugh and laugh some more....until I look at my text-machine and notice we have just enough time to lay down a tip, push in our chairs, and get out of there just in time to hit the box office before the movie begins.

We arrive at the Laemmle...just down the street from the Coral Tree Cafe in Encino.  It's Wednesday afternoon, so, of course, I find a parking spot!  We race to the box office.  Mom whips out a gift certificate.  I whip out my cash.  And it's the cheapest movie I've seen in a long time.  8 bucks for me and, because she's a senior, 4 bucks for her.  Holy crap...I do have something to look forward to!!!!  Cheaper for seniors.

We sit down and I swear Mom, Me and the lady in front of us are babies compared to the people in there.  All 72+, I'm sure, and quite spunky, indeed.  And that theater was three quarters full.  It's those 4-buck-tix that put them into those seats, for sure.  Something to look forward to!!!

The film was bookended between the following...

"This is a true story" 

and 

"All characters appearing in this work are fictitious.  Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."  

???

And everywhere in-between was a sad-happy-sad-feel-good-by-the-end-but-teary type of story!

We grapple with the "truth" of the story versus the "un-truth" of the characters and, finally, without understanding, this makes us giggly.  Our movie-tears change to laughter, and before we know it, anxiety ensues as we urgently must find a bathroom before we pee our pants...

...but not without passing by this conversation:

You're drunk! 

I am NOT!

That's okay...I am too.

...and then eavesdropping on this conversation:

LADY 1:  Hi!
LADY 2: You're in Europe!
LADY 1: No, I'm here!

LADY 1:  Did you like the movie?
LADY 2:  I hated the movie.  It made me cry.
LADY 1:  But it didn't have sex.  And it didn't have bad words.  And it didn't have bombs.
LADY 2:  But it made me cry.

Despite Mom and Me discreetly but hysterically laughing our way to our respective toilets, our bladders prove to be champions as they withstand these exceptional provocations...and we each stay dry. While rehashing about our plights to our respective toilets, we can't help but giggle all the way home.

By the time we get back to my house, it's 4:00.  The late-afternoon drowsies set in, so I make Mom a cup of coffee.  We talk and laugh some more, and before my family gets home, Mom is coffee'd-up, talked-out, over-giggled, and on the road waving her goodbyes.

That was A Day Out with Mom! And as I was writing about the account of this day, it reminded me, yet again, that we can make an extraordinary adventure out of the usual....we just have to find it!  And that day, Mother and Daughter found it...also, most notably, not without giggles!

Ciao for now!
k