The Best Mother's Day Gift

It's not news that the best gifts often don't come with wrapping paper and ribbon.  Earlier this week my son Beanie called to ask me my plans for the weekend.  I reminded my absent-minded son that his Dad and I were going out of town for the 1/2 marathon.

The original plan was for our whole little family to go.  We even invited the girlfriends, but the our plans got derailed when we realized it was Mother's Day weekend and the girls wanted to (understandably!) be with their Moms. Beanie then got his job at Disney and would be working part of the weekend.  Shmoo said he would go with us, gladly.  So all was not lost, just a new plan.

Last weekend at the Relay for Life event we found out that Shmoo's friend who was going to watch Emily for us had a scheduling conflict with his work. This week we couldn't find anyone else to stay at the house either. Shmoo opted to stay home so we wouldn't have the expense of kenneling Em or just leaving her by herself and only staying one night at the race.  Not great, but practical.

I was wondering aloud to GG on our drive to the race destination how our trip got to be so different than we originally planned.  I told GG I felt bad when Beanie called because he found out he was off on Saturday, his GF was working and he had planned to come home and stay over on Friday because he wasn't working until Saturday evening.  GG shook his head because Bean is notorious for forgetting what's going on.  Anyway, I told GG I felt a little bit guilty and bummed out that I wasn't home with my kids when they made an effort to spend time with me for Mother's Day.

Now you all know from this blog that I spend time with my sons frequently. Even with Beanie 90 miles away at school, we see him at least once a month and talk on the phone several times a week. Obviously, it's not like I never seem him. Shmoo still lives with us and is a part of our daily lives, but it's Mother's Day weekend and I felt weird not being with them.

But guilt knows no logic.  The guilt got a little worse when I spoke with Shmoo late yesterday afternoon and he seemed a little down.  No plans for a Friday night, home by himself with only Emily for company.  Okay it doesn't sound so bad when you are my age, but when you are 19 it pretty much sucks.

About an hour later Bean called.  He had called his brother (on his own!) and decided if he couldn't be with me, he would go spend time with his brother and stay over and they could hang out.

It's just the best gift I could ever receive.  While I still feel sad to miss a Mother's Day with the boys, knowing that they are there for each other is just, well, I have no words.

Born to Run...

Well GG is anyway... Born to run I mean.  If there is one thing I don't get though, it's running.  I admire it.  The beauty and the discipline of it are awe-inspiring, but I sure don't get someone wanting to beat up their body like that.  

Anyway, we are off to the Central Valley for a half marathon. GG is running with the Road Warriors, my sister's group, to raise money for WWP. I told you about this a few times recently. Anyway we are off for the weekend. 

So much for all my resolve to keep current with the blog.  *sigh*  I have, however, already done my May re-read for Nath's challenge. Not telling what it is either... There's a couple more clouds with silver lining for the weekend, since GG insists on doing all the driving that means lots of reading time in the car for me. Wa-hoo! Plus I get to see my sister and The Stair Steps.  That's always a hoot.

Oh yeah, here's a nugget of news for you to chew on. I bought a recent release in a series that I said I was D-O-N-E with.  Can you guess what it is? I plan to put up a review of it next week. 

Guess what else?! I went to see the new STAR TREK movie last night with GG, Shmoo and Shmoo's GF.  Here's my review:  Fun movie!  I don't think you have to be a trekkie to enjoy it, but Trekkies will be in heaven.  On the other hand, the director JJ Abrams has sort of reinvented the wheel here too.  The movie is well cast, action packed and just plain fun to watch.

Gotta finish packing now so I better get going. I'm bringing the new laptop with me so who knows, I may end up getting in some blog-time in this weekend.

Have a great Mother's Day!

Voracious

vo·ra·cious (vô-rā'shəs, və-) adj.

1. Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous.
2. Having or marked by an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit; greedy: a voracious reader.

I know that compared to women who have to get up each day and walk miles for water my life is a piece of cake. And in all seriousness, those women are never far from my thoughts because I know my life here in the United States is pretty darn peachy.

As peachy and great as my life is I still get a yen to indulge in some pretty decadent and indulgent behavior. Like I did this weekend for instance. I had a perfectly good rationalization too. Week before last I was busy getting sick and getting ready for Shmoo's 18th birthday party and that pretty much shot that week AND last weekend. I sure didn't get to read very much.

Yeah, I know you are probably thinking about those two books I posted about. In my defense I read those two books over a week. I think. Or, maybe even 10 days. That's slow reading for me. Besides I'm counting on all of you to be on my side here.

Anyway, this past week I was busy recovering, catching up with work and complaining on my blog. A busy and full week, no? *tongue firmly in cheek* Still not too much reading getting done. No book buying getting done for sure. Then the weekend rolled around again.

GG and I did our swimming, our grocery shopping, I made, as you know, quite a few book purchases, and we came home and did most of the rest of our weekend chores. We were busy little worker bees. So much so that I felt completely comfortable rewarding myself on Sunday with a little reading. Of course, there is no such thing is there? A little reading?

So here's my confession. I finished three books this weekend. I finished the Kresley Cole book Saturday night and then knocked out both the Anne Stuart FIRE AND ICE and the third O'Sullivan brother book by Kathleen O'Reilly NIGHTCAP on Sunday. Decadent AND voracious wasn't it?

I ask you though, how could I resist the temptation? First, I had all those lovely new books I'd just purchased. Then Beanie was working at the final matinee of GUYS AND DOLLS, which GG and I caught Saturday night btw, Shmoo was making the world a happy place by serving up Big Macs, and GG went out for his last long run in preparation of his half marathon on Mother's Day weekend. You know what that means right? A quiet and empty house.

What was I to do left home alone with all that lovely sunshine and silence? Shmoo's scrapbook? I did what any red-blooded book lover would do. I curled up in my bed with my books. There was actually a three hour period of no men, no phone, no tv, no music, no drums, NO noise. Just Emily snoozing in the sun and me reading. My bad? It was bliss. I hated to break for lunch.

Man, I was spoiled. Mother's Day is in two weeks, but I had the best day ever. After lunch and a chat with GG it was back to reading.

As a result I was patient and listened to Shmoo's woes at work when he got home. Beanie came home and had to tell me all about the final performance of Gs&Ds and the cast party. And GG, well he went to bed with a smile on his face. Yep, it was a very good day.

Shhhhhhh...don't tell my guys though. They think the turkey sausage and scrambled egg whites and dry english muffin they will be preparing for me in a couple of weeks is what is going to float my boat. I don't have the heart to tell them that "Silence is golden" had to be coined by a Mother who loved to read.

It's Mother's Day and...

The men in my life are trying not to kill each other in the kitchen as they prepare me a Sunday morning feast. It smells good. Waffles and chicken/apple sausages. They are grilling the sausages, my favorite.

So Happy Mother's Day to all! I'm going to take a look at my TBR and pick something out to read this afternoon.