I was definitely worried about Grandma’s timing in arriving at our home in Tennessee, as she was preparing to fly here from California.
Just a few days earlier, Mommy and I had to take you to the Emergency Room twice in the same day for your 106 degree temperature, as you were suffering from the flu.
My biggest concern is that Grandma would come all the way out here, only to not be exposed to our normal jolly little Holly.
Fortunately though, just as Grandma was coming in, your symptoms of the flu were on the way out.
I noticed right away how quickly you were drawn to her. Despite us only getting to see her about twice a year, you treated her as no stranger.
What really amazed me was on the 2nd day of her visit, you spent a solid two hours just chilling with her in the living room, playing with your toys. You never once needed Mommy or me.
I definitely noticed that you adopted a certain energy from Grandma. It was like a switch was turned on whenever you were around her.
You just wanted to show her what a sweet little playful granddaughter you are. It was as if you wanted to make sure Grandma got her money’s worth out of her cross-country trip.
Though you’re too young to process that Grandma is actually Mommy’s Mommy, it’s like somehow you already understand this.
You instinctively know that she is a very special person in your life. It helps that her personality perfectly compliments yours.
I am confident you could have spent all day with her on the living room floor, with just your plastic tea party set and a baby doll to serve as entertainment.
You typically are reserved around people you don’t see often.
I am taking a moment to deliberately freeze this moment in time; as if to keep you this age long enough for me to process the concept.
It is clear to me that you are in a transition between two different stages of boyhood.
You’re old enough to recognize that “Sesame Street is for babies”, yet you will happily watch it alongside your sister, while giving critical yet intelligent commentary on the plot line.
You’re old enough to finally stop spending all your birthday and Christmas money on stuffed animals, yet you genuinely celebrate receiving a new one as a gift.
You’re old enough to walk across the street to catch the bus every morning to school, yet you still can’t tie your own shoes.
Speaking of shoes, it’s as if you’ve still got one foot in the world of Young Boyhood but now have the other foot in the land of Middle Boyhood.
I feel like I’m even catching a glimpse of your early teen years, when it will no longer be cool to be seen in public with your dad.
I keep that in mind, even now, knowing there are times when I need to give you space; yet the very next day you may be very needy of my attention.
It’s obvious to me that you have gained a sense of your own identity at a much younger age than I did. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but I feel you’ve already formed the confidence in yourself that I didn’t gain until junior high.
Perhaps I feel that this is one of those fleeting stages in your life, where if I’m not careful, it will already be gone before I had a chance to acknowledge it.
So I’m acknowledging it.
Before too long, you’ll be openly mocking Elmo and tying your own shoes.
I am definitely a fan of satire. I love the feeling of, hopefully, being the one who is clever enough to be in on the joke, meanwhile passersby of the mainstream may find themselves being fooled without even realizing it.
For example, just this morning I published a video making fun of the fact that people in Spain are often are annoyed by the way some Americans assume that a person of Spanish descent is automatically Mexican.
As I was checking out the headlines on Google yesterday, I noticed one that seemed too good to be true. My immediate thought was, “Oh, it’s just an article on The Onion. How’d that show up as one of the main stories?”
I then saw the source of the article. It was People.com.
Yes, that’s right. Even though one passenger on a recent United Airlines flight bought a separate seat for their “emotional support peacock”, the animal was still refused a seat on the flight.
This story would be funny enough if it were simply satire. But I feel the fact that it’s true actually makes it even funnier.
Here are 3 reasons why this true story is perfectly hilarious:
1- It’s a peacock!
Yeah, just the sight of a peacock is already funny. It’s basically a prehistoric turkey on LSD. But then, imagine a peacock in an airport, trying to catch a flight. Yes, peacocks can fly… but not as far or as high as they could on United Airlines Flight.
2- There is a human being who specifically needs a peacock for emotional support.
I can easily began to understand how a dog or cat could provide a sense of therapy for a person recovering from trauma. Okay, fine. I would even accept Big Bird as a legitimate solution. But a peacock? It really makes me wonder what kind of trauma a person has to go through to specifically need a peacock; not a dog or a cat.
3- It’s ironic that a peacock, whose job is to comfort others, is the one who probably ended up needing the most consoling.
Just picture how the peacock woke up that morning, so excited to go on the biggest adventure of his life. But then, the evil corporation shut him down! I love how the author, Elizabeth Preske, knew she had to add an extra touch of absurdity to the headline by including these words together:
Emotional peacock.
I’m pretty sure that’s a brand-new phrase in 2018.
Ah, I had several good laughs from this peacock story. Though I do feel bad. The true victim in this story isn’t the passenger, but instead, that poor bird.
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When it comes to gifts for my wife, she’s always made it easy on me, telling me all she really wants is maybe a new pair of slippers or pajamas, along with a bag of red licorice.
But for this Valentine’s Day, as we are just months away from our 10th wedding anniversary in July, I decided to make this one extra special.
With her mother in town from Sacramento, and our 7 year-old son at school, my wife took the day off from work so we could make the drive in the 2017 Mazda 6 to the Cool Springs Galleria Mall, where there is a James Avery artisan jewelry store.
Honestly, the thought of trying to choose jewelry for my wife is slightly terrifying. For a gift this special, I wanted her not only to have the experience of choosing the gift herself, but also to be able to enjoy seeing all the options in the store; to make the final selection that much more satisfying.
So I figured it would be a lot more fun for my wife, and for me, if we simply went to there together with a James Avery gift card in hand. My wife was able to focus on shopping, as I tended to our 21 month-old daughter in the store.
At the front of the store was a timeless, crafted Valentine’s Day gift set collection. Immediately, my wife was drawn to the Petite Heart Gift Set. She tried on the heart-shaped earrings and necklace pretty much immediately. It’s funny because as long as we’ve been together, I can think of only a couple of times she has worn earrings, but that changed during our store visit.
My wife was sold on the Petite Heart Gift Set, but I encouraged her to take her time and not stop there. I reminded her, “There’s no rush. Enjoy this. Get what makes you happy.”
Meanwhile, I looked over to see how my mother-in-law was doing, and to my surprise, she was in the middle of purchasing a new silver ring for herself.
I smiled as I made my may over to see her selection. She laughed and she explained, “You should have known better than to bring me into a jewelry store and expect me not to come out empty-handed.”
The assistants in the store were extremely helpful and knowledgeable along the way. My wife ultimately depended on their direction, as well as my opinion, in making her final selections.
As I handed over the James Avery gift card to make the purchase official, I realized that the total was a little bit higher than the amount of the card.
Oh well. I didn’t hesitate and just quietly paid the difference.
After all, my wife deserves it. For someone who is content with a new pair of pajama pants and licorice for a typical gift, it was time for me to go way, way beyond her expectations. And I did!
So for this Valentine’s Day, I know my wife of nearly 10 years will feel even extra special. It truly brought me joy in knowing I made her day!
If you would like to see my wife’s final selections from James Avery, just check out our “haul video” below…
I feel like there’s this familiar cliche from family sitcoms of the 90s where the mother-in-law comes from out to town to visit, which inevitably yields 23 minutes of zany frustration for the husband and father of the household; accompanied by laugh tracks, of course.
Maybe that’s true for some men out there, I don’t know.
What I do know is I personally can not relate to this stereotype at all.
My wife and I have been married for nearly 10 years. I can honestly say that I have never once felt frustrated when my mother-in-law comes to visit or when we visit her in California. In fact, she has the opposite effect on me: I feel more relaxed with her around.
I assume I’m the typical American dad in that I am heavily involved not only with the kids, but also with the household chores. The only real free time I have is when everyone else is asleep.
During my waking hours, I’m either taking care of at least one kid or I’m helping clean up a mess. Because with young kids, there’s always a mess to be cleaned.
But when my mother-in-law is in town, I get a break from reality. I actually have pockets of time where I can do things like, you now… learn what it feels like to sit on my own couch for 5 minutes; thanks to my mother-in-law insisting on preparing dinner without my help, telling me, “Now Nick, sit down. I’m taking care of all this over here. You just take a seat and relax.”
This is all especially fresh on my mind, as my mother-in-law is currently staying with our family here here in Tennessee this week.
When the folks at Mazda heard about our special guest flying in from the West Coast, they dropped off a 2017 Mazda 6 Grand Touring with a full tank of gas, to make the week-long visit extra special.
It’s funny because despite only living about 40 miles south of Nashville, I only see that wondrous and trendy city a few times a year. But knowing we had a fancy car to get us there, we loaded up in the Mazda 6 and took our mother-in-law out for a magnificent lunch.
My wife suggested this cool Lebanese bistro called Epice.
Wow, seriously. It is now officially my favorite restaurant in all of Nashville. It was like being introduced to a whole new world of food. Not to mention, they were easily able to cater to me being a vegan.
The restaurant shares a parking lot with a very swanky “Nashvilley” shop called WhiteMercantile, which happens to be owned by Holly Williams; the daughter of Hank Williams, Jr.
I admit, the decor there was so cool, I took lots of pictures, made it into a collage, and debuted it as my new Facebook banner picture.
My mother-in-law just loved that store! Despite being born and raised in Oakland, California, she definitely has a fascination with the Southern motif.
After lunch, my wife and mother-in-law decided we would be stopping by an organic grocery store called The Turnip Truck; as it is soon to be a place frequented by Country Music stars.
Apparently, there were no celebrities there at the time, but at least I got a Mexican coffee out of the deal, and my daughter was able to enjoy one of her favorite snacks for the drive back home.
The next day on Saturday, my mother-in-law decided she wanted to take us out for dinner at our town’s official favorite restaurant, Viking Pizza Co. of Spring Hill.
Needless to say, it’s been a very enjoyable week for our entire family with my mother-in-law in town. Especially for me. I have enjoyed being able to remove myself just enough from the household chores, as my mother-in-law has assumed many of my roles this week, so though I could have some moments of sanity.
I don’t care what happened in 90s sitcoms. All I know is, I definitely like having my mother-in-law in town!
If you would like to learn more about the specifics of the 2017 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, check out another article I wrote; which as the title of it implies, will answer many of your immediate questions. Just click on the click below:
And don’t forget to catch up with me on The Lifetime Network’s “This Time Next Year” on February 20th, at 10 PM Central/9 PM Eastern; as I journey over the course of an entire year in attempt to find and meet my doppelganer!
