Company II

It was a nice surprise to be able to spend as much time with my friend Brian as I did during his recent visit. Better still that he was able to come by the apartment three days in a row to spend some time with Miss Cathy and see my life here.

After Mark and Brian’s brief visit on Sunday I was looking forward to having a more relaxing visit with him. On Monday Brian came over to hang out a little before we went into DC. I happened to see him outside from my bedroom window so I went out to greet him. One of the first things he said to me was, “Your mom reminds me so much of my mother.” I knew that he has a close but tumultuous relationship with his mom so I was surprised and intrigued by his statement.

He said that he could see that she was a strong, fiercely independent, opinionated woman but he could also see that she was struggling to adjust to her new life and diagnosis.

It was great that Brian spent some one on one time talking to Miss Cathy before we took off to the city. We took the Metro into DC where we spent the day at the National Portrait Gallery then dinner at Cuba Libre with his partner Mark, his cousin Joy and my friend Bill.

Since I was gone for so much of the day I should have checked in with mom earlier but it wasn’t till dinner that I thought to call (I have to admit that I was having so much fun and just forgot). I was definitely thinking about her though (and feeling guilty) because I saved part of my meal to share with her (a doggy bag consolation prize for NOT thinking to call her earlier).

Interestingly, while I was debating whether or not to call because it was getting late (she usually is not up at 9:30pm) my cell lit up and there was Miss Cathy’s face on my IPhone, calling me.

She said that she’d made smothered chicken and sweet potato pie and wanted to know what time “we’d all” be coming back so that she could give Brian and Mark a plate of food. I was kinda taken aback because 1) no one asked her to cook for them and b) we’d just finished eating dinner and there’d been no discussion other than of me being dropped off after we left the city.

I explained to her that we’d already eaten and that it would be late by the time we got back to the suburbs but I’d do my best. After I extended the invite, Brian said they would come by on Tuesday morning to say goodbye to Miss Cathy and to get the food.

So, I was/was not surprised when we were in my parking lot and I looked up and saw that her bedroom light was still on when they dropped off around 11:00pm. I’d had such a good day/night that I really wasn’t in the mood for whatever was waiting for me on the other side of the door but I walked in, kicked off my shoes and I went into her room to see what was in store. It was now about four hours past her bedtime and it was unusual for her to “wait up” on the rare occasions that I’d gone out for the evening so I was curious to see she was up to.

And there she was, waiting up, thinking that “the boys” were going to come in and visit. She was visibly disappointed when I told her they headed back to Joys’ to get some sleep but she did perk up a bit when she found out they would be back in the morning. I think it also helped that I brought her some of my dinner to sample. She sat right up and got herself ready for me to bring her a plate of the exotic Cuban food. She acted as if eating spicy food near midnight were nothing out of the ordinary.

The “black” rice with seafood, yucca fries and plantains were all new to her but (surprisingly) she ate everything on the plate. I think she enjoyed the fact that I brought the food home for her more than the food itself. She said that they were “interesting” flavors and that it would probably take a while for her palette to get used to it all.

Then she chatted on and on about the food she’d prepared earlier and wondered if they’d like it. I worried a little that she’d gotten herself all “wound” up cooking and waiting for a “visit” that she’d made up in her head. I could already hear in her voice that she was going to get “obsessive”, talking of nothing else until Mark and Brian were here eating her food. She started peppering me with question after question; "Did they like chicken?" "Did they like pie?" "What were we going to put the food in?" "Did we have containers we could spare?"....and on and on. All I wanted was to come home and bask in the afterglow of some “me” time but instead I felt the “glow” turn into a “slow burn”. Eventually she calmed down, I reassured her that we'd work it all out in the morning, I turned out her light and she went to sleep-or so I thought.