Girls Night In

The plans were to start hip-hop classes and attend holiday services. Instead, we did homework, packed and chatted. When my daughter went to get her green tea ice cream, she was attacked by errant items falling out of the freezer (a common happening in our house with frozen food, dead bread pieces, half-eaten pints of ice cream, ice bags). She came in to say she was eating the partial pint of chocolate with mint chunks and was tossing a partial pint of peanut butter with peanut butter cup chunks. I watch what I eat so carefully and never treat myself to anything like ice cream -- so she was surprised when I said I would just eat it! I got out bottles of toppings (chocolate, caramel and yucky strawberry) left from her birthday party and we poured them over the ice cream. She squealed with delight about having a sundae party on a Thursday. Then she said she was so glad we were having fun as I eat such boring food and that I should enjoy and celebrate my mammogram. We giggled as we ate spoonfuls of syrup when the ice cream was gone.
I told her I thought I should do a walk after all that sugar, but she did not want me to go out late. So I got on the exercise bike for a few minutes as we watched a special on Britney Spears. While on the bike, I saw that one of the cactus flower buds had opened into a big flower. I bolted out the door to greet it and heard "Mom, that's a mammogram flower." Doesn't that just make your day!
Times have changed in our house as she used to sleep with me when her dad was gone. Tonight, she said she was sleeping in her bed so she could spread out, and that I could do that too. I will miss those little toes stuck under my back while I am sleeping, but I actually have something else really special -- a little (or not so little anymore) girl that truly loves me. Wow. Something to be thankful for at holiday services in the morning.