Michelle's Blog, Blog, Blog

The Girls Day Out

We met at the restaurant for a nice lunch for my daughter, Alyssa's, 16th Birthday. She brought her best friend, Breanna, and we met my sister, Lisa and her little girl, Emmma, 5. We waited for my mother, ordered appetizers and then decided to go ahead and order while keeping watch for her. We were almost finished with lunch when mom made her typical, fashionably late enterance. I must have inherited that from her as I struggle to be on time for work or appointments. She sat down all smiles apologizing the whole time for being late. She loves to get together with us and shop, even if it's just window shopping. We talked and learned the daily nuances of each other's lives. It's only interesting to family. As Lisa recalled a time when she had hurridly entered my surprise 40th birthday dinner, late which is not her fault as she has to dress the entire family, 3 kids and her husband beside herself, when Alyssa whispered that she should go to the bathroom and turn her shirt inside out and put it on frontwards, instead of backwards. Laughter filled the table as we giggled, tears starting to pour down my face, making my mascara run. Then mom talks of a time at work that happened to her in her giddy voice, when a co-worker told her that her shirt was backwards and inside out. As her eyes lit up to tell of another encounter when she got to work only to notice she was wearing 2 different pairs of shoes, not even the same height. Trying to control my laughter and shaking my head, I told her that she might not want to mention that ever again as Alyssa nearly fell off her chair laughing. When the waiter came back to clear our plates, he asked if everything was ok as he noticed the big, black globs around my eyes from the tears of laughter. We toasted to a better year. Lisa just signed papers to make her divorce final. My mom had moved to Illinois a year ago from Florida, always struggling but always positive and announced that she was going to find a man this year, over the internet, no less. This scares me on many levels even though I wish she had someone to share her life with. And me, in my second year of marriage to my second husband struggling financially. It has to be a better year.
Our shopping trip was not as long as planned since the lunch ended up twice as long while we waited for my mom to finish her lunch and then we had cake! I'm sure in years to come, I will not remember if I bought anything at that shopping trip but I will always remember the table, where we all sat and talked and laughed until we cried, as all girls often do.