Nothing changes....ever..

This year my M's Day was nice (almost) all day. Didn't really do much but that's how I like my holidays lately -- nice and simple. J cooked a late pancake breakfast and then I read two papers straight through -- my regular Sunday NYTimes and the local BR Advocate (which I don't subscribe to but for some reason one was thrown in my driveway Sat. and Sun.). It was a nice treat because I guess I'm one of the dwindling few who like actually holding a newspaper and getting newprint ink on my fingertips.

By the time I'd finished the papers and showered and dressed it was well into the afternoon and J. was working on his Fiat that he's obsessively trying to restore. The predicted rain never showed up and the heat had actually broken a bit so we decided to drive downtown and walk around to see if all the changes we've been hearing about are true. I must say the downtown area appears dead serious about making a come back and I'm glad. We walked by the river and did our usual routine about how horrible it would be to fall in. ....Don't ask me why. We drove by the area where our first house was when we were in school and once again I wished we'd never moved across town. When we graduated we couldn't afford to upgrade in that area so we joined the throngs moving to the burbs of Baton Rouge for the good schools don't cha know? Boy did we -- or more specifically our children -- get screwed on that one. C'est la vie -- I guess. Then we stopped for a coffee and headed home.

By the time we got home I was starving. I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat so J got out the Chinese menu. Worked for me so we ordered delivery -- orange chicken for me and kung pao chicken for J. (is that how you spell it?). Did I mention I was starving? The food arrives quickly but....we had the chatty delivery guy. He actually stood at the door talking about several different things. I had a terrible time understanding him. I think he was trying to be so nice because he's the one who the owner almost fired a month or so ago because he couldn't find our house. The owner of this restaurant is a doozy. A month or so ago when our delivery order was taking a l-o-n-g time getting here she called and said the delivery guy had gotten lost the first time but was headed our way and he would be there this time! Then she told J (thank god he had answered the phone because I can't understand a word she says when she's not upset...) so she told J that she was firing the guy when he made it back to the restaurant. Oy Vay! I was afraid if he knew this he might have spat in our food. Anyway....obviously he wasn't fired and every time he makes our delivery he's the nicest little guy and J enjoys trying to figure out what in the hell he's saying talking to him. But....did I mention I was starving?

To set the scene: I'm starving. The food's there -- smelling real good. We set the food out and pop in a movie and settle in. Then, after maybe three bites, son #3calls. Seems he's lost every piece of paper work that indentifies him -- license, social security. He wonders if I know his social security number. I bite my tongue. Actually, since he's not the first of my kids to pull something like this I've learned to keep a list of all the vitally important stuff they can't seem to keep up with. Off I go to fetch my list. But...for some reason his ss #'s not with the others. Of course not because I'm frickin' starving!

After searching every nook and crevice I can think of (with son #3 playing some damn game while he's holding the phone -- I know because those sounds are unmstakable)I find an old MS driver's licence and since MS uses ss #s for driver's licence #s we're home free. I triumphantly read out the numbers to him while he repeats them to his sister to write down. WTH! I guess he's too busy saving the universe or some such thing. Once again I bite my tongue because it's M's Day and I don't want to create a bad memory. I never did find out why he needed his ss#.

So, finally, I sit down to my cold food which I don't even really want anymore. The movie's about half over because J kept right on watching it -- and eating. He did manage to ask -- which one was it this time?

That's how my M's Day ended. Catching the end of a movie while eating cold Chinese food and reaffirming a truth every mother on earth knows. Once you have children you'll never again have an uninterrupted meal.