Amy the Mom

Dinner for eight

I began to feel human again yesterday afternoon.  I'm sure the first shower in 48 hours helped in the recovery effort, as did the return of the ability to taste and smell.  I picked the twins up from school and decided to make a nice Eye-talian dinner.  I made Chicken Parmesan, pepperoni rolls, and a tossed salad with some fresh herbs thrown in.  Sam, my son's gluten free friend, was visiting and my motherly intuition told me that there would probably be at least one more extra at the table, so I made nine servings.  For Sam's wheat intolerant benefit, I omitted the bread crumbs on the chicken breasts. 

Drew walked in as I was browning the chicken and mentioned to his dad and I that his new girlfriend was outside, and asked if we wanted to meet her.  Our response was somewhere along the lines of...Hell, YES!

I'm happy to report that this girl is pretty, she is normal, she is respectful, she maintained eye contact, she interacted well with the family, she has plans for life after high school...people, we have a WINNER!  Woot woot! 

I asked if she would like to stay for dinner, and assured her I hadn't lost anyone yet as a result of my cooking.  (She giggled.  She actually politely laughed at my lame attempt at parental humor.)  Drew inquired about the menu.  I told him we were having Chicken Parmesan.  He then asked, "Are you making pepperoni rolls?"

"They're in the oven as we speak."

"SUHWEEEEET!  You have to stay for dinner, Jackie, you have to try her pepperoni rolls."

I was floating a few inches off the ground at this point.  The old Drew had returned and with much better company.  I restrained myself from dramatic fist pumping action.

The teens sat in the family room, and I began conversation.  "So, did Kalvin tell you his mom started a blog?" 

"For real?  Can I see it?

"Sure."

Reads it for a few minutes, "Cool.  All my friends read your blog."

"YOUR friends read MY blog?"

"Well, John and Som do.  When they're bored."

"JOHN reads MY blog?"

"Only when he's REALLY bored."

Yeah.  Wouldn't want me to get a big head about my audience now, would we.

Amy the Stepmom

Oddly enough, I was hesitant to write a post about my role as a step-mom and how challenging it can be at times.  Steve asked me this morning why I haven't written about the recent drama that has captured our parental attention.  I responded that I didn't think he would appreciate it.  He felt there was some comic gold to be mined here and while I agreed, I wasn't necessarily interested in upsetting the delicate balance of my relationship with Drew.  I decided to run it by my stepson when the conversation could be steered that way.

Later in the day, Steve and I went to retrieve Drew from his job.  Drew climbed in the backseat, we asked how his day was and he said it had gone well, but he wondered if I had any "peach colored" makeup at home.  Steve and I exchanged glances, looked at Drew in the rear view mirror, and asked simultaneously, "Why?"

We were at a traffic light, and Drew responded, "My boss wants me to cover up THIS," and he turned his head to reveal his neck covered in hickeys. 

Now, I'm only 39 years old.  I'm a child of the 80's and far from an uptight prude.  I wasn't angry, or even surprised, to see the results of Drew's make out session from the previous evening.  But what shocked me was the brazen pride he displayed.  God.  My mom-BOTH my parents- would have killed me if I'd flashed the sucker bites I got back in the day(for the record, it only happened twice and once was with my husband).  I rubbed toothpaste on them and threw on a turtleneck-regardless of the weather outside.

I used this opportunity to broach the topic of blogging about Drew and told him his father thought it would be good material.  To my surprise, Drew quickly agreed and said "At least it'll be funny then."

Um. Yeah.