"Her"

One of us connected with our son yesterday. Michael phoned him and they talked about him. He didn't ask about the wedding, South America, the earthquake, the festival and many of the other bits of news I have been waiting to hear. Michael was smart. He never asked anything other than, "How are you?" And isn't that really the most important question?

He is tired. It has been a full year of touring and he said he needs a break. The current group is opening for a HUGE band in big arenas but he has decided to take the summer off. It actually is a good move for him. He needs to visit his favorite coffee shop, ride his bike 20 miles a day, cook amazing food for himself and reconnect with friends.

After my lunch today with Natalie, I will make my phone call to him. Hopefully, I will catch him. Often, we just leave a message. I will ask how he is doing then ask if he would like to join us on the roadtrip for a bit. I will try not to interrogate him about everything else.

While mom was in the booth testing her new hearing aids at Costco yesterday, I wandered the store. I found the bathing suits. Years ago, I bought a two piece set at Lands End. Black. Long top. Skirt bottom. Fine. Worked well. Looked nice. I tried on the suit last weekend and it was way too big. Almost every hotel on the roadtrip has a pool so we are packing bathing suits. While glancing through them at Costco, I noticed that they all had high cut legs, which is not a good look for me. Then it hit me: You already have the skirt bottom in black so just buy a black suit in the right size. Well $19.95 later, I am the proud owner of a new black suit with pretty white accents. I tried both pieces on last night and Michael gave me a thumbs up. But, what was kind of creepy was that the suits are sold on a plastic form of half of a woman's body. I threw "her" into the trunk and kept referring to "her" as a body in the trunk. When we opened it to pack the groceries, it was just plain creepy.

I got home, cooked a lot of food (Crack Slaw, Bacon and Eggs a Different Way, Chicken Mango Sausage for Michael) after I threw "her" on the bed. When Michael got home and settled into dinner, I asked if he had seen the woman on our bed. He looked at me as if I had finally gone around the bend. His response when I brought "her" out for his inspection? "Just creepy!" I laughed and told him that it was recyclable, too!