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I usually hate sequels. They’re never as fresh, or enjoyable as the original, but this is one sequel that I’m happy to have. The blog that I did in the morning for Mother’s Day was dark, but by evening it was better. Why?
Trinity gave me one of those Hallmark cards that you record your voice and it plays music. When she is very grown, I will still have her voice as a little girl, and that’s pretty cool. Since my bad mood had made me unable to come up with anything I wanted for a gift, Jon was on his own. Oh, dear, as any husband knows, you always want a clue. It’s just safer that way. But Jon did fine. He got me the collector’s edition of SWEENEY TODD. A gift I wanted, and one that my progressively grumpy mood had made me forget was even coming out. So, it was a good surprise.
Then I got to do what I wanted to do with the day. I wasn’t forced to cook a huge meal for everybody and work on my holiday. I didn’t have to go out to one of those huge, impersonal, restaurants where you get food cooked in huge vats. What’s with that, anyway? Eggs, and most meat need a little more of a personal touch than that. Vegetables, well, my grandmother was a Southern cook which meant all veggies were cooked within an inch of their life, so cook it in a vat, all the same to me. Jon and his family have introduced me to steamed and grilled veggies, and it’s good, but soggy works for me. I grew up on it. Except for okra. Slimy, over-cooked okra is evil. Oh, and black-eyed peas, there’s nothing you can do to them to make me want to eat them. Yuck!
We went out and saw Iron Man with Trinity and our friend Richard. Neither of them had seen the movie yet. Why had we seen it without Trin? Because, she’s still a little iffy on some of the violence or sexual content, so Jon and I preview movies. Just in case. You know the rule, whatever goes in their minds, sometimes makes a home, so be careful what you allow inside. Does that sound weird coming from me? Why? Just because I write about sex and violence doesn’t mean I write for children. I most certainly do not write for children, and I’ve never pretended otherwise. The few times I’ve been informed that my books were discovered shelved in young adult weirded me out.
And, please, do not ask me if your teenager is old enough to read my books. I don’t know your kid. By my daughter’s age I was reading some very scary stuff, but she is not me, and stuff like that bothers her. Every child is like every adult, an individual. Know thyself, know your child, work from there.
The movie was so packed we had to split up. Jon and Richard sat together and Trin and I sat farther down. Uncle Richard would have taken the kiddo, but it seemed wrong on Mother’s day to not sit with my girl. Besides, having seen the movie once, part of the fun was watching Trinity’s reactions.
After the movie we ran home, rescued the dogs. Okay, let them out so they didn’t have any accidents inside. Then we went out for dinner. We went to one of our favorite sushi restaurants. We all love sushi. Okay, good sushi. Bad sushi is like some of the worst food you will ever try to scarf down. I lived in Los Angeles when sushi first hit big, and I had some really bad stuff at dinner parties. Sushi, like most everything else in Japanese culture is an art, and you can’t fake art. I’ve only recently been brave enough to retry, and found that I like sushi just fine, if it’s prepared well.
So, the four of us sat, ate, visited. We drank really good green tea, salmon rolls, a lot of nigiri of various kinds, and a few appetizers. It was good, and getting out to a nice restaurant was exactly what I needed to cap the day off.
I think we’ll make a movie and dinner out a Mother’s Day tradition for the kid part. Uncle Richard went home, and once the kid was in bed, then Jon and I had more grown-up plans. I’m sorry, it’s my holiday, I may not have known what I wanted him to buy me from a store, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do with him afterwards. I may not be easy to buy for, but I’m easy to please, okay, scratch that. I’m not, but I do try to make it worth the effort. I’m all about rewarding for good behavior.