Strange Days

Things are always very weird when my mom is out of town. Not only is she my mommy (see here), she's my primary child care provider (keeping Lizzy out of my hair while I am doing my schoolwork - at least until I get a paying job, when she will hopefully be back to full time), supplemental food provider (both the excess from Costco trips and sometimes full on meals - either out or at her place), and general Morale Officer.

So she's out of town and everything seems just... off. I mean, I'm doing my homework and folding laundry and all that, as normal, but I have to keep interrupting myself to pick Lizzy up at preschool or arrange for other stuff to occur. Like this afternoon when the Hubs has a phone conference and it has to be quiet; if Mom were in town I'd just take the kids to her place for the hour. Oh, I have a key, but "it just ain't right" when she's not here. Very strange. So we'll run by her place and grab some stuff and then we'll go down to our favorite frozen yogurt place and get some dessert for after tonight's dinner.

My Critical Thinking class (did I mention I currently have 100%? I do) is doing a unit on rhetorical analysis. A few of my friends will find this amusing (yes, Broot, I'm talking to you). Abby - who only knows the term rhetoric as it relates to that kind of sarcastic rhetorical question like, "could you have spilled more milk?" - will likely find my discussion of it trying and engage in massive eye-rolling. Thus is nearly-nine-years-old. I also have to interview someone - and I have a friend in mind - for my Communications class. We may have to do this via email because I can't think of a good way to do it via Skype with the Liz here.

Which brings us full circle; doing my everyday school work without my mom here is not that big a problem. But doing anything that requires me listening to someone talk has to be done while Lizzy's at school - and since it's a holiday week there are only five hours of that this week, half of which are already gone. I knew my mom did a lot, but I had no idea how difficult it would be this week without her in her home a few miles from mine.

I love you, Mom.