Well, I wrote three new blog posts before my phone rang last night and fell short of mentioning the news of my mother's visit recently. I received a comment from the complaint department that mom didn't get any "face" time on the blog so it is with great pleasure that I write this next blogspot... (hi MOM!)

I'm down. Life isn't as great as I always say here in Texas. I have been feeling lonely and have crying jags when I don't think I'll ever be able to stop. I miss my family and I miss my friends. I have so much here yet I'm so sad all the time. I'm trying to deal with it as it comes but some days I can barely get out of bed and I'm snappy and short with people. I hate being so far away from my family. I hate that Beth is growing up and getting taller and I am not there to see it and share the experience. Because I work in retail and Nancy works at the hospital, Christmas and the holidays are always what we make it. But walking through Wal Mart yesterday and seeing all the holiday stuff made me really, really sad.

So mom recognized that I'm having a bit of a struggle and she jumped on a plane and she came down to give me a pep talk. Mom's are always good at that. Especially my mom - because her pep talks usually start or end with SHOPPING!!! :)

I picked her up on a Saturday morning and we went directly to a mall. Ah, I believe it's what the textbooks call "Retail Therapy." It worked. We bought Christmas presents for me and for Nancy that day and then went to the Saltgrass for a late lunch. Sunday we spent going to the gym in the morning and then doing a little more shopping. I went to work on Monday and Tuesday and then took off Wednesday. I got my Texas driver's license that morning and then we celebrated with...MORE SHOPPING! Thursday and Friday were quiet and we even managed to hit Babe's Chicken in Roanoke for dinner on Friday night. Cindy Lu arrived late Friday night and we awakened to a very familiar morning..all of us sitting around in our pajamas talking about what we'd do that day. Hmmm..whatever should we do? Wanna shop? OKAY! (channeling Monica from Friends) We got back just in time for a surprise birthday party for our friend Gretchen and afterwards we went and did .... wait for it, MORE SHOPPING! :) (actually, mom stayed home in bed cuz she was sleepy and Cindy and I drove out to find a shirt I liked in a smaller size at Lane Bryant)

This was also the night when I misjudged a turn in the dark and ran my car into a ditch in the Flower Mound Target parking lot. I bent the rim on one of my tires pretty good, chewed up the hub cap and the tire went a little flat but for all the trouble it only cost me $22 at the NTB place down the road to get it fixed. Mom flew home that Sunday evening and I missed her before she even got on the plane.

You spend so much time in life with your mom and she always knows what's best. You don't want to admit that she knows best and you don't want to admit that sometimes you just need a mom to come along and clean things up for you. Secretly that's what they live for; a mom never stops being a mom. :) And even though I get frustrated with her and I yell, I am grateful for the relationship that I have built with my mom through the years and I mean it when I say that I don't know what I would do without her. This visit was good and I was glad that she came to spend some time.