TGIM?

Yes, that is what it means. Thank goodness it’s Monday! Right now, I need a weekend to recover from the weekend. It was two days of not-stop “doing.” I dropped Mom at the beauty shop for her weekly “do” and raced off to the grocery store. It’s amazing how much faster you move and how few unnecessary items find their way into your grocery cart when you only have an hour to accomplish the task (including round trip travel time).

Mom emerged from the shop with a shiny new “do” covered in a protective plastic rain bonnet to protect it from the rain and gale-force winds we were experiencing. The winds were truly brutal, and since the beauticians secure the hair by the application of “prom spray” (think super glue) that turns the hair into a solid white helmet, a really big gust could have ripped her hair out by the roots and sent it sailing.

We stopped for a quick breakfast at Yvonne’s Sweet Shop on North St. Clair near the intersection of Main St. in downtown Painesville. It was a first for both of us. Mom had a very good stuffed French toast, which I knew would be 2-3 times what I could manage to ingest. She downed about half and took the rest home. I had a side of homemade hash browns and a couple pieces of bacon. I rarely eat either one, so it was a treat. Everything was reasonably priced.

Soon, we were back home, where I unloaded the groceries and stowed them away. Next I checked my bank balances and wrote checks for the bills. Then came the mad dash to the post office, which I made minutes before closing. I stopped to check on my daughter, who was suffering from an abscessed tooth before heading to the library to replenish my stock of books on CD that I listen to obsessively while driving.

Back home again, I sorted laundry, then packed everyone into the car to attend church services. After mass, we headed home again to nuke frozen lasagna for dinner. A quick clean-up later, we headed back to Painesville to attend a wake. It was an incredibly sad gathering for the 24-year-old son of friends. I can’t begin to imagine what those parents are going through. The lines were long and filled with family, friends, co-workers, school chums, scout leaders, and teachers. We stood in that sad, slowly moving procession for more than an hour, but sore feet and all, I wouldn’t have been anywhere else. We left solemn and exhausted, and headed for bed shortly after pulling into the garage.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, and I spent half the day being the good mother and half the day being the good daughter. After doing some groggy, early morning research, I found a place that could perform emergency oral surgery on my daughter, who is unemployed, uninsured, and broke. Since the good Mom had to foot the bill, I was pleased that I was able to find something reasonable. American Dental Centers in Severance Mall was the only option and we spent half the morning and a couple afternoon hours taking care of business. The trip home from Cleveland included a stop at Wal-Mart for pain killers, antibiotics, and protein shakes for a little liquid nutrition.

Next it was making a quick dinner before the evening’s festivities. Mom and I got cleaned up, dressed and into the car. We stopped in Mentor to pick up my sister-in-law and the three of us headed to Cleveland to attend the KSU Centennial Celebration Concert. My nephew was singing in the men’s chorus, and we were treated to Barber”s Second Essay for Orchestra, Janson’s Visions of the Omega, and Mozart’s Requiem. The concert was wonderful. It was a nice way to wind down from the weekend activities. Severance Hall is an incredible concert venue to have right here in our own backyard.

All in all, I was thankful the weekend was over!