random thoughts – Day 2,046 (Thursday) – mom’s birthday

At The Old Mill.

It’s Mom’s birthday and the family went out to dinner to celebrate. Nine of us assembled at The Old Mill, a local dining institution. The Old Mill features water, a waterfall, and water fowl, and baskets of corn fritters and pecan rolls upon being seated. After a fritter and a roll I could have skipped the supper part (I didn’t). 

We talked and laughed and ate. We admired the ducks on the way out and remarked on the beautiful green heads and the fact that the menu includes "roast country duck." We wondered if the ducks outside are aware of this.  It was delicious and fun.

In the sliding scale of Mom’s birthday’s, this was high on the satisfaction level. My worst version of Mom’s birthday was in 2011. I was in a hospital bed in Tennessee, medicated after early morning surgery to mend the leg broken the night before in the final roller derby event of Clarksville Roller Derby's inaugural season. 

An assistant came in to change the bedding and after, my phone, which had been in the bed with me, was missing. Panic mode commenced when I reached for the phone to call Mom and tell her “happy birthday” from 1,200 miles away.

Shortly before the break, 10-22-2011.

I deduced the phone was in the recently removed sheets and called for a nurse. In my imagination, the sheets and my phone were in a giant laundry bin with lots of other bedding, en route to a massive basement level laundry room with dozens of machines where all would be washed, and in the case of the phone, ruined. This vision fed the panic and I called the nurse several times more than was necessary because the phone and the sheets were actually in a laundry bin at the foot of my bed.

When I called Mom, the medication had me slurring my words and she didn’t know it was me. I was alone and very far removed from family and it was awful being the odd one out but I was also the one who moved away so it was a situation of my own making. Since moving back home in 2013, it’s been great being part of family birthdays again. And all the other family things, holiday and everyday, planned and spontaneous.