Wednesdays with Mema

With a busy and often chaotic schedule that keeps me all over the place, sometimes its nice to have just a little bit of pleasant consistency...

I know that I can look forward to this every week...I know that no matter what other crazy things are going on during the week, Wednesday evening means that im going to make the weekly trek up to Acworth for dinner with my grandma, a tradition we started when I moved a year and a half ago. She lives alone, and was so afraid that if I moved away from her (we used to live in the same neighborhood), that she would never see me again. So to make sure that didn't happen, I promised to come take her to dinner once a week to catch up, run some errands and just have quality time.

We go through the same routine every week - I call her when im on the way, and ask her where she wants to go eat. It's always the same response.."I don't know, where do you want to go?" When I get there, we ponder ideas of locations to eat while watching GSN (for those of you not in "the know", that's the Game Show Network....yes, ive gotten rather skilled at Lingo, Jeopardy and Who Wants to be A Millionaire...look for me on Wheel of Fortune one day!). One of her favorite things to do is have breakfast for dinner, so we frequent IHOP often...no complaints here, I love a good stack of buttermilk pancakes for dinner! One night, a man eating at the table next to us asked if we were sisters...we both looked at each other and died laughing. She was flattered (of course), I started to wonder how bad those smile lines on my face really were...but we both knew he was just a lonely old guy who wanted to strike up a conversation with someone...anyone, and flattery is always a good way to get people to talk back to you. Who doesn't like a compliment?!? ;o)

Our dinner conversations often center around the events of the week...the weekly bingo update with how many prizes she won, and of course how "so and so" wasn't there this week because they had health problems, or how "so and so" has a new great-grandbaby. I fill her in on my week, and then we'll often talk about her next field trip with the Senior Citizen group at her church, or how her next door neighbor is driving her nuts because he keeps taking her trash can from the curb instead of his own. And aside from someone mistaking us for sisters, we often have good laughs like the time that she tried to cut a baby tomato on her salad, but it flew across the table and landed in my drink. Our waitress saw the whole thing, and I thought she was going to fall in the floor from laughing so hard - we were all in tears.

Dinner is often followed by a late night trip to Kroger to pick up a few items, and get her weekly case of water that she cant pick up by herself. We do a little shopping, and when we get to the register, she always asks me if I have her "Kroger Plus Card" ready, and make sure to tell them to give her the Sr. Citizen discount! I just smile and say yes, as always (if I haven't gotten that routine down by now, then clearly there's a problem..haha). I'll fill up her car with gas (because she is still scared to pump it herself), and we head home.

Back at her house, im put to work...performing little tasks around the house that she needs help with, like changing light bulbs, etc. We'll sit around and watch her favorite Christian TV station, and sometimes we'll pull out old boxes of pictures to sort...we laugh (and sometimes cry...I miss my grandaddy dearly), and make fun of old hairstyles and clothes. But I always love to hear the stories that go with the old pictures of when they were young.

When it's time to go, she always walks to the door and says the same thing..."I love you, be careful, call me when you get home." Yes, im almost 26, and I have to call her every week to let her know I made it home safely...if I forget, she hunts me down. Even if it makes me feel like im 8, I happily oblige, because I know she does it out of love.

Our weekly rituals may be monotonous and expected, but I look forward to them every week. I know one day when im older, ill look back and long for that simple routine...so while I can i'll cherish every Wednesday, and all of the prized predictability that comes with it. :o)