Company

My friends Brian and Mark are in town from Chicago and I got a chance to spend some time with them yesterday, quite unexpectedly. They’re staying with Brian’s cousin, Joy and it turns out she lives less than ten miles from here.

While Brian and I were on the phone talking about how close we were to one another Joy graciously invited me to join them for Sunday brunch. I had texted Chad during my morning coffee that I had no plans for the day and was just going to “see where the day takes me” so the invitation was kismet. If anything, the only “day” I had “planned” would be watching TV, eating too much and obsessing about my relationship so I jumped at the chance to get out of the apartment. It was all so spur of the moment and unlike me (I usually respond best to planned spontaneity).

Brunch was lovely and spending time with old friends and meeting some new people was just what I needed. During a lull after the meal I found out that my friends had some time before they had to drive into DC so I invited them over to the apartment to meet Miss Cathy.

I’ve known Brian for more than twenty years and he’d never met my mother after hearing story after story about her so I was eager to finally introduce her to him. Besides, it might be the only chance Mark would have to meet her because of his busy schedule so I was happy they agreed to drop by.

I did think to call ahead to ask mom if she was “up” for company, she said, “Sure, but I have rollers in my hair, is that alright?”

I told her that she’d be fine, that they wouldn’t care as long as she was comfortable.

Brian had insisted on taking Miss Cathy flowers and he thought it would be a hoot to be able to tell her that the flowers came from “Wegmans” given that he’d read the blog entry of our experience at the opening of the grocery store.

Once we were at the store I mentioned that mom liked apple pie just as much as she liked flowers (thinking Brian could save a little money) and he said, “Oh good, then we’ll get her flowers AND an apple pie!” I couldn’t say too much about his being extravagant because after all the gifts were not for me so it wasn’t for me to protest. What I did say was how much I appreciated what he was doing and how much I knew Miss Catty would, too.

When we arrived at the apartment mom was all smiles and the first thing out of her mouth even before introductions was, “Hugs! We hug around here.”

She was as tickled as a schoolgirl receiving a prom corsage over the flowers and pie. And sure enough, she laughed when Brian told her he’d bought everything at Wegmans. She busied herself with putting the flowers in water while I showed the guys around.

We all sat in the living room to chat after she’d put the flowers in a vase on the coffee table and I’d cut the guys a slice of apple pie to sample. Miss Cathy was very much in her element with a new audience. She is definitely more of a social creature than I am-that gene must have skipped a generation.

She regaled them with stories about her knee replacement and recovery and I did my best to just listen and not editorialize with my eyebrows.

I was surprised when Brian commented that the apartment is larger than he was led to believe after reading the blog. “Gee”, I thought to myself, “I hope I’m not embellishing or exaggerating my experience here.”

I “hope” I’m documenting things as they’re happening. But let’s face it, we can only relate what we know as we see it, so…

It does make me wonder if what I’m writing about her is “larger” or “smaller”. I’ll be curious to hear what Brian thinks now that he’s met her.