Potatoe and I decided on lunch at R&R Crafthouse Grill for our Mother’s Day dinner. He is loving right now. The day is gorgeous. I love seeing the patio filled with the six feet apart tables. I do not at all believe that the social distancing concept works, but I am happy to see that one of my favorite locally owned businesses is able to operate effectively under such circumstances.
I am sipping a glass of fine French champagne, and Potatoe is enjoying a glass of ice cold water. Okay, it is actually cheap Italian prosecco and Potatoe is drinking from a plastic bowl, not a glass, but we feel fancy. We feel happy.
I love how excited Potatoe gets when we pull into the parking lot here. I love how happy Sarah, our favorite server, is when we walk in with Potatoe. We could not see her smile because of the darn face masks, but I could see the smile in her eyes, and Potatoe was sure happy to see her.
I feel envious of all of the tables filled with Mom’s. All of the children are adult children; except for one table, which consists of a mom, dad and four children that are high school/junior high age. They are my kind of family, no one has touched their cell phones. They are all engaged in the conversation at their table laughing and smiling. I can tell that they like Sarah as much as we do.
I would love to have Mom here right now. I would buy her a glass of this “fine” Italian wine. She would order the shrimp dish that I ordered, and she would want a salad. I ordered the shrimp because it sounds like something she would order. She would be super embarrassed by Potatoe’s new bad habit of begging, which I taught him with my hundred plus trips to the refrigerator in the last 55 days.
My salad has arrived, and it is perfectly fresh. Mom would comment that they must make their dressing in house. It is so fresh; she is probably right.
Potatoe just got a compliment for his exceptional behavior. I imagine that Mom has gone from embarrassed by his begging to being a super proud doggie grandmother. Potatoe’s bacon has arrived, so he no longer has to beg. Funny, he likes for me to break his bacon into bite sized pieces. I am not sure he will eat it as it is.
I wonder what Mom and I would talk about. Life is so different than it was when she was here. I am sure she would think that her grandsons hung the moon and stars. We would talk about how badly Little Chirp wants to make the seventh grade basketball team in the fall, and Brainy Bird’s AP exams in the upcoming weeks. She would probably want Brainy Bird to go to Texas or Texas A&M, instead of Indiana, which is his first choice.
We would talk about how different life is now than it was when I was seventeen. We would talk about how badly she wants me to spend more time on my writing. She would tell me that she likes me without make up, and that I should not go back to wearing make up. She might get her way on that. I would tell her how much I love her, and I would tell her how grateful I am for the life that she gave me.
I miss her. I am never going to stop missing her.
Happy Mother’s Day Mom. You hung my moon and stars; I love you.