Whirlwind escape

I ran away from home this weekend. Just for 24 hours. Maggie was in charge while I was gone. She runs this place like a Swiss train.

 I flew down to Burbank and watched my friend Elizabeth perform in the Expressing Motherhood show at the Banshee theater.  The show consisted of 12 mothers reading, or in some cases performing, a piece they wrote themselves about some aspect of motherhood. There were raucous laughs and some tears, there was unmitigated joy and seething anger just like motherhood itself. If you are in the area, the show goes again next weekend. It was a wonderful escape.

I went with my friend Janet who was already heading down there to visit her mom. We flew down at 2:30 pm leaving us about 90 minutes after we arrived before we were to meet a few others for an early dinner before the show. We went to a brand new mall that looked like Main Street in Disneyland. Dinner and the show were great, I met some new people and made instant connections and we sat together for the show. Afterward, Janet and I each headed to the homes of our respective brothers for the night.  I returned by noon on Saturday. I hadn't been to my brother's house in many years and had a great visit with him and my sister in law and niece before leaving there at 10:30 am to return the rental car, get on the plane, then the shuttle, then the BART train so that Steve could pick me up at Civic Center. It was an exhausting 24 hours, but a great break.

When I returned Maggie was happy to see me, but not for the reasons you would expect. I came in and she gave me a smile and waved and then immediately pointed to her nurse and beamed. She was over tho moon because her nurse Josephine was back after a month off. Steve said when they went to the park in the morning Maggie said on her talker. "Dad I am excited. Josephine coming to see Maggie." Steve said that's right Maggie and who else is coming home?"Eventually, Maggie threw me a bone and added me at the end of the sentence.  "Mom's coming."

It's nice to be missed.