Little Melodrama

This wasn’t the typical Sunday morning as it is the last day of my mother’s visit. Usually Sunday mornings consist of lounging around watching the CBS Sunday Morning Program along with making breakfast. I didn’t watch the program and my mother had made a very nice pancake breakfast for everyone. We were out late last night so there was a late start to the day. Each day my mother has been here has been filled with something to do (this is much better and most certainly to my mother’s liking). The week has flown by so quickly and I am sure being busy has something to do with that but it has been a wonderful week. We all got to go to Disneyland which was a blast for the entire family and even when there was “down” time my mother spent it with the children doing “something”.

The morning was a bit sluggish but we were all downstairs in anticipation of the New York Giants playoff game. The family has become big fans of the Giants ever since they spent the past two years in New Jersey. Much of my wife’s family is Giants fans and this has rubbed off not only on my son but slightly on my daughter as well. She surprisingly was with us as the game commenced and watched most of the first half. My wife is an “interesting” fan because she is loud when there is a play of a significant magnitude which sort of upsets my son. He is so funny and just looks at his mother to say, “Cut it out!” It was great watching the game with my family even though my son and daughter “bailed” out at halftime. My son asked if he could go upstairs to play the Wii and appeared too had had enough of the game. He told me he knew that the Giants were going to lose and I really couldn’t argue with him.

The Giants weren’t successful and clearly were the inferior team today. There wouldn’t be a run like the one they had last year when they won the Super Bowl. The team that appears headed for a similar one defeated the Giants today and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Eagles in the Super Bowl along with winning that game. Of course, I have “retired” from the prognosticating business and thankfully so!! Today was a far cry from those insane days when I would feign interest in the game but in reality had my internal organs in an uproar.

I did feel bad that the Giants lost but this was as a fan and my son took the loss in stride stating emphatically, “we aren’t watching the Super Bowl this year!!” I doubt that to be the case and I realize the Super Bowl could be a trigger of mine but I go back to the first time I got into trouble with my compulsive gambling and had to see a psychologists who told me that no matter how long I abstained from gambling the Super Bowl would be like New Year’s Eve is to an alcoholic. I remember those words and I would purposely treat the Super Bowl just like any other “betting” day and my smallest bets happened during these days. Oh yes, I was a “sick ticket” (as my mother likes to state) but by God I wasn’t a compulsive gambler. Clearly that was the case and I am and will always be a compulsive gambler but thankfully I have found recovery and my life continues to get better and better each day.

The Giants game was over and I watched a few minutes of the second game but then went outside to play catch with my son. This is a much better way to spend a warm sunny Sunday afternoon then to sit and watch a meaningless (at least to me) football game. We had a game of catch before we were off to one of our favorite eating establishments (Souplantation) as a farewell dinner for my mother. This is such a great place for the family and now with the children getting older they are able to fend for themselves. I glanced around at the other tables with much younger children where either the mom or dad was trying to placate the children and thought I am so glad those days are over. It is so much better now that both of my children can move freely about the restaurant and get whatever they want.

We had a very nice early dinner and that would mark the end of my mother’s visit since we were then headed off to the airport. I took my mother back and both my son and daughter joined me. My wife stayed behind to relax and the drive to the airport was very nice. My daughter has a tendency to be a bit melodramatic when a family departs and she started with the “I miss Grandma” chant well before we arrived at the airport. This has been going all of my daughter’s life and it has gotten to a point where everyone (including my daughter) sort of takes it with a grain of salt. Yes, it is clear everyone will miss grandma but life will kick in and those thoughts won’t be as prevalent. We did drop my mother off at the airport and yes, it was a wonderful visit in all facets. I am so grateful to my mother for everything and so grateful I had the opportunity to spend time with her this week. I am so blessed to have such an incredible family.