Oh, God. This again?

 
Rituals
My mother and I have birthdays that are two days apart. After she and my father divorced, we began a tradition of seeing a movie and/or having dinner on the day between our birthdays. Sometimes, this outing would include a stop to buy my gift (e.g., a pair of shoes). But growing up (more), getting engaged, and moving out of town put an end to that tradition.

This year, we spent her birthday like any other Saturday, except that we ordered pizza during the football game. Oh, and Mia had a viral fever and was crying and had to be taken home early. But otherwise . . . just like any other Saturday.

Sunday, we had planned to have a family “thing” with Michelle’s parents. I was going over early while Michelle ran to get my presents an errand and finished making my cake. I was taking Mia over to her parents’ house, but I had to stop at my mom’s to look at her foot. It seems that she had hit her toe in the night while walking to the bathroom; it had bled some and she wanted me to make sure it was okay. (She’s a diabetic, so her feet are a source of great concern.)

Long story short, she had a Band Aid on her foot where there was no injury. I checked between her toes where all the dried blood was and found that her little toe was torn halfway around on the inside, and that pulling her toes apart I could see all the way into her foot. So, we spent the next four hours on an Urgent Care odyssey. When I finished that and her toe was surgically glued back together, it was a rush to the in-law’s house, eat some leftover pizza, open some presents, and eat some damaged (but very tasty) red velvet cake.

So, the toe thing was the lowlight of the weekend.

The highlight (even better than getting Interpol’s Antics before its official street date, was Michelle singing “Happy Birthday” last night at the Girls’ show. This is much more spectacular when you realize that Michelle hates being the center of attention for a big crowd and she doesn’t usually sing for anyone (mostly just Mia). I was truly awestruck. Still am, actually.

shaken and poured by Scott-san at 4:58 PM