On Missing My Mom...

Moms are wonderful people. They are exactly what you need whenever you feel like you're starting to lose...well anything...your brain, your keys, your lunch, you get the picture. My mom came up or the weekend and it was wonderful.

Last time my mom stayed with me in Houston, I was a mess. My apartment was still in partial boxes. I had a mental breakdown in front of my kids, my car had broken down, and I hadn't had more than 3 hours of sleep.  I felt like a child who's mommy had to come rescue her from the big bad real world. She was exactly the pick-me-up ( well kick in the pants!) I needed to get my life together. She saved me.

This time ( almost a year later) it was the opposite. I felt MORE like an adult with my mom here. We kicked off our weekend at Pico's Mex-Mex ( a favorite of the infamous Katherine O'Hearne) where I tricked mom in to ordering a medium margarita which was as big as her head. We caught up and ate up everything in sight.

 I even took her with me to open house at school, this kids thought she was super cool and it was a GREAT conversation starter with parents! We went to the Menil Collection, a free art museum in Houston. We were unfortunately stalked by a train wreck of a first date following us from room to room. Museums are a quiet place to reflect and enjoy yourselves, not a place to loudly explain how you couldn't finish your time at UT on a chess scholarship because you were too busy playing chess with your friends. I could see his chances of getting any evaporate with every word.

After braving the Houston heat for a day, we dressed up and headed out for a lovely quiet dinner at *17 . Dinner didn't blow us away, it was good food with simple clean flavors and execution. However the French 75 cocktail and black pepper panna cotta with figs hit my top 10 list of desserts and cocktails.

We ended our weekend with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which was FANTASTIC. I rarely find myself caught up in a movie like I was caught up in that one. Mom really enjoyed it and got to geek out a bit, which is fun to watch her do. The last time mom was with me we saw Paranormal Activity on Halloween night, which had me crawling underneath my seat and cowering in fear like a baby. Mom was laughing through the entire thing...most likely at me.

All in all I still need my mom for so many things. She helped me learn how to hang heavy mirrors and pick out indoor plants. How to get my cat to be nice all the time and laugh at myself when I get too serious. How to realize that I love the city of Houston. I never really thought I liked it here as much as I did, until I was showing it off to mom. Finding that there were too many places I wanted to take her and show her. Houston really is fantastic, and I'm so glad it was my mom who helped me realize that. Thanks mom.

-HK