Mom’s Lesson in Relaxation.

I’ve had quite a hard time relaxing lately. My sleep has been affected to the point of only getting an hour of sleep here, or an hour of sleep there. Causes range from dealing with an excessive amount of ignorant people to people not speaking to me with respect, and responding to emails whenever they pop up on my burry, etc. My infatuation with making sure everything works right got out of hand. The one lesson I took to heart from Dean was putting my Blackberry in “garage mode”. Not vibrate, not phone only, but garage.

Last night mom gave me an impressive lesson in relaxation – or “unplugging” as she calls it. She came home from work, and I gave her a hug when she finally walked in the door. She had a headache, and her back hurt. We talked for a little bit, and she started making dinner. Now mom can COOK. I’m not sure why she doesn’t just go be an executive chef somewhere – or someone’s personal chef. She can make ginger-bread houses that look like they should be in a magazine. Come to think of it, I don’t think there’s a single thing she can’t make! In addition to being a great cook, she’s also funny as hell, a great mother, a horse trainer, and just an all-out great friend. I’m probably leaving about 20 other mentionable qualities out, but I’ll think of them and add them later.

She always wants the best for me, and her advice is timeless. Everyone who meets her and thinks she’s the “sweetest old lady” just made the biggest mistake of their life! They don’t see everything that I do; she didn’t choose to share that side of her with you so you’re not going to see it. The day before I arrived, she was busy making preparations for my arrival.

Such a work of Art, I didn't even wanna mess it up. I finally gave in though. Sooo comfy. I sleep like a rock...

This is the bed she had prepared. WOW. A king mattress, and it’s sooo comfy. I sleep like a rock now. I didn’t before my relaxation lesson, but I sure do now!

She made some great baked Salmon with all the perfect spices, pasta with great veggie combinations with shrimp, and perfectly ripened tomato slices from her garden picked just before dinner. I showed her my wine-bottle opening gadget and was immediately amused: “Well go grab us a bottle of wine!” Of course I would pick a Merlot, Syrah, or Shiraz from the rack. NOPE! It has to pair with the fish, so it has to be a white – ooooh. My bad. So she picks one out, we dust it off, and I show her how the contraption works. “Go get us a couple of wine glasses from the china cabinet.” I don’t have to have wine in a wine glass, but I guess it is the proper way to do it. Then she turns off the lights, and lights candles. Oh my…and puts an ashtray in the middle of the table between us. Are you for real? I don’t have candle – lit dinners even with a girlfriend, unless the restaurant already has candles (like Hosteria Romana, in Miami Beach).

Everything she does is done to perfection – not to impress, but just because she’s good at what she does. I always have had a saying “I don’t do anything half-assed. If it’s going to be done, it’s gotta be done to the fullest.” I didn’t get it from her…but she sure does [exemplify this]. It was so fun catching up and talking while we’re casually eating (which I usually never have the time to do (casually) – it’s just something I have to do from time to time).

Her lesson: Unplug! Blackberry goes on Silent/Garage. Doesn’t matter if the POTUS (President of The United States) is calling, nobody interrupts dinner. They can leave a message. When not actually working, I’m not to touch a computer (this is a bit extreme, as I do blog, but I see her point). Watch a movie, go for  walk, sit

Doesn't get better than this - I have a VERY easy commute to work. It's about 30 seconds.

outside and listen to the birds and bees and the sounds of nature (that’s all that surround the house, just woods. It’s about 5 miles outside of town. Don’t get me wrong, we live quite well out here. We have FIOS, Satelite TV, house is always at a comfortable temperature, phones pretty much don’t ring here. Well almost. Her husband does work from home consulting for Verizon. I will do some work from home as well. Here’s my office.

So during her lesson Liz calls. Lesson learned; phone doesn’t get answered. We finish our dinner and I’m about to do the dishes, but she wont’ let me. So I call Liz back, tell her that I need to jump in the shower and to give me 30 minutes before leaving her house. I’ll text her the directions. We ended up going to see the latest Batman movie which I’m sure everyone else has seen about 3 times by now, but hey we haven’t. We were the only ones in the theatre. Awesome! When I finally got home at about 2am, I was finally able to sleep.

Mom w/ Connor, one of her horses.

Thank you so much! I’m sure you already know, but I appreciate you very much. I always have, and always will. There’s nobody that can hold a candle to you. Everyone loves you (although for different reasons) and you have no enemies. Maybe a few people that envy you because they can’t do what you do, but that’s it. I can’t even begin to imagine what life might have been like growing up with you, and not my own mother.