An Involved Weekend
Puck and I sat in the car on the Aldi parking lot, waiting for El Oso to hunt up a pack of avocados in the mess that is pre-winter-storm-shopping in the Greater St. Louis Area. Puck leaned over to the front seat to flip open a small compartment, hunting for junk as usual.
“Look, Mom,” he pointed to the insignia of a cigarette crossed out inside the compartment. “They put up a sign: no cigar-ing. Why’d they do that?”
“Because it would be dangerous.”
“Oh. ‘Cause you could get drunk?”
“Well…”
Sometimes that six year-old mind…
Boxes of Girl Scout cookies sat on the counter at the Silverspoon’s:
“Theodore bought them for you, you know,” Gloria told me. “But of course we’re all eating them.”
The essential Girl Scout cookie ingredient: “addicting.”
Puck was getting warm from running around with a pile of blankets in the living room. Off came the NIKE sweatshirt, back into the blanket mountain sprawled out by the dog and cat on the rug by the fire:
“Ahhhh, this is the life, Sebastian. Ahhhh… You have yucky gums, Sebastian. Ahhhh…”
The mail brought a machete for Theodore. Some people order things like books.
After Puck ran eagerly up to Rose’s apartment for another spend the night:
“You might want to get going so you’re not late, Mom.”
… a ten-guest surprise 30th birthday party in the city. Mexican theme. El Oso and I brought the guacamole; Costco style. 1898 home, 13-foot ceilings covered in Japanese prints, photographs, and writing. I assisted the host with tilapia and peppers in the kitchen for a large fish taco spread on half-hand-painted china. Took the house tour, ending with the hand-sized cast iron stove wedding gift from Joe in Red Strike’s office. It was a topic of conversation throughout the evening. Desert flan on a Walton-Family-worthy kitchen table, trays of herb and vegetable seedlings in the window.
People are always interesting. Roped into a circle of late-twenties-early-thirties playing charades and spaghetti western card-based strategy games. My bane. Five web development men and their wives: three brunettes: English Teacher, Pastry Chef/Seminary Student, Labor and Delivery Nurse, and the red-headed Content Strategist. But I will also admit that two social evenings in a row is about the limit for Collette Maritime Snicketts Silverspoon.
On the drive home, right in the Valley sometime around 11:30: freezing rain. Stuck like glue. Passed two cars spun out after Weldon Spring, and then a third whirled off into the median right behind us. Another March battle on the brink.
Adoption Status: Down: 4 years, 6 months; To Go: 1 year, 9 months.