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December 13, 2006
Never knew how much that muddy water meant to me
Ah, lordy. I'm in Louisiana, ambivalent homeland. Have been here since Monday, here until Friday, having superintense Mom-time. It's wildly emotionally exhausting. I took my medicine this morning, out of my by-the-day pill container, and was stunned that it was only the second morning I'd woken up in Gonzales. HOW CAN THAT BE?
I'm feeling a bit more balanced today than I have on Monday or Tuesday; my accent has mostly returned, so maybe people are not staring Quite So Much (though of course they still stare).
There were many stories this morning, over coffee and huevos revueltos con chorizo; the hardest part was when my mom confronted me over something that's bothered her for three years. When she expressed shock and surprise at how unusual my wedding was (a long fun story for another day, children), my dear friend Todd (who has known me since I was 14) said to her, "What? Did you not KNOW your daughter was weird?"
In fact, she did not. This is not because I wasn't always weird, but because she has never quite understood who I was or what I was like. She has just always totally ignored anything about me that didn't fit in with what she wanted to believe, and so yeah, she was surprised when there was a sort of WHOLE DAY of bizarre wonderful weirdness. (For the record, my wedding was one of the Very Best Parties I have ever thrown, and to my knowledge, the only person, out of nearly a hundred, who didn't have a good time was my mom. Eh. That's a pretty good success rate!)
So. The fascinating stories I heard today *from* my mom, though, bear typing out. I guess the main one was about her courtship and marriage to my father; I'd heard bits of this story lots of times, but this time I got the whole thing in one go, and there were many amazing details.
But! Yikes! My Very Limited Internet Time is up -- I have to go be a good daughter. But I want to write this down! But but but.
NB: My mother is now aware enough of the internet to think that it is frightening. *sigh*
Posted by Rose at December 13, 2006 02:26 PM
Comments
Rose, I'm in Dallas tonight and I'm heading out going right by Baton Rouge & you (Gonzales) on Route I-10 tomorrow on my way to Miami. do you want a brief break from the mom front?? Near as I can figure from mapquest, you're about 15-20 minutes off my route. If you get this in time, email me and I'll give you my cel phone number. If not, no worries.
Hang in.
Posted by: caroline at December 13, 2006 06:18 PM
It's true--the Internet is very, very frightening.
But there was a glimmer of hope today: I was trying to explain something to my mom, and I had to ask before launching into it, "Um, have you by any chance heard of a thing called 'Amazon.com'?" And she said . . . "Oh, of course!" Wow! Amazing!
Now, mind you, I didn't ask her what she thought Amazon.com was, but she had heard of it, which was more than I had dared to hope for.
Posted by: I. at December 13, 2006 10:35 PM
The story of your mother at your wedding reminds me of something a friend told me after my wedding. She pulled me aside and said, "You dad had a wonderful toast last night, though I think it was less of a toast and more of a concession speech."
Posted by: michelle at December 14, 2006 08:46 AM
Ahh, mothers.
Favorite motherTucker conversation:
Daughter: "I think I want to be an actress."
Mother: "Oh, honey. You have to be pretty to do that."
Posted by: dianna at December 19, 2006 02:03 PM