She was waiting on the sidewalk in front of her Madison Avenue hotel.
We decided to go for a walk, and I rambled on, the nervous way I do with strangers. She asked questions. Tell me more, she said as I pointed out places I’d been.
I kept rubbing my eyes; they’d been bothering me for a day or two and it was late. I had wanted to show her The Plaza and walk for a bit down Fifth Avenue, but when we stepped into the hotel’s brightly lit lobby, she stopped and touched my face.
“Your eyes! Are you okay?”
“Mmm, yes. They’ve just been burning. I couldn’t wear any make-up today.”
“I have eye drops in my room.” Then she looked closer. “Oooh, honey, I think you have a broken blood capillary!”
“Nah, that’s sort of what amounts to an eye freckle. I’ve had it since college.”
“How dare you have something I don’t know about!”
We laughed, she squeezed my arm, and took me back to her hotel for eye drops.
Incidentally, my eyes are fine this morning.
Famous Mom-isms in my house:
“Grapejuice stains.”
“Are you drinking enough juice.”
“I just hope you didn’t SLEEP with him.”
“So, start from the beginning: You woke up…”
“DON’T do that to your ears! They might stay that way.”
*That last is because I have little cartilege in my ears, so they’re kind of soft and bendy. In a sexy way, of course. It’s what I resort to if I want to piss her off.
Good luck entertaining your mom. She should be pleased to have such an independent, put-together daughter.
Well that doesn’t sound icky in the least. So so glad sweets!!
It was actually really super good. And she brought homemade brownies. Huzzah!
To those who give birth, one’s child is always “my baby,” no matter how many years pass. One day you will be a middle-aged woman standing in a living room, picking imaginary bits of something from your grown daughter’s hair and asking such important questions as, “Honey, are you getting enough rest?”
So don’t be nervous. Your mother sounds like a very nice person.
Funny how mom always knows best.
I’m happy for both of you. Enjoy the visit.
I’ve been loving my mom quite a lot lately. Despite the obvious stress of such conversations, I think we’ve established certain boundaries that make our relationship a lot more functional…
Glad “the mother ship” landed ok.