Kept forgetting to mention this: I’m looking to buy or barter for a legal full copy of Windows 95 or 98. Then we can fix the kid’s computer and play our old games.

At the gym:
When I got there and was tying my shoes, I heard a voice saying, “Andrea, this is your mother speaking,” and realized it wasn’t inside my head as usual. I looked up, and there she was sweating away on the stationary bike.

“So,” she asks, “Did they call you to come help me get off this bike?”

“No,” I answered, “They called and said you were drinking again and I had to come get you.”

I’m sure the lady on the elliptical machine next to us thought we were insane. By the time I was on the cross-trainer, Mom was going out the door and we were hollering across the room about supper plans for this evening. I told you there were good reasons why we didn’t show up at the same time.

In the van:

Ron turns to me and starts some of our usual witty banter about kissing and hugging and date nights. I turn to check out Sarah’s expression, and she says to me, “See? This is why I need therapy.”

At the mall:
I wander into R@dio Sh@ck to pick up a discounted Tomb Raider game (TR Chronicles, number 5, for ten whole dollars!) and as usual, it is overcrowded. I squeeze past one lady to look at batteries, and mutter to myself, “They need a bigger store,” She raises an eyebrow at me and says fairly loudly, “They need more knowledgeable salespeople who know about the products they sell!” Okay, that too.

By the time I get to the counter, most of the traffic is gone, and Ron is off to one side chatting up a storm with a student. As I’m paying, I mention how the game is indeed for me, not Sarah, and by the way, you know they modeled Lara after me. “Of course!” the clerk says, “I could tell when you came in.” He grabs the latest incarnation of the game to tell me how it is on sale, but I banter back that I can get it for half that on ebay. He’s crushed but hides it well. I make my way over to Ron and tell him how the clerk tried to get me to buy the latest game, but I was strong, I told him no. Clerk is there too, and says, “Actually, what really happened was she had been clutching the game and weeping and I had to pry it from her hands. I talked her into getting the cheaper one so you could take her home.”

That night:
Meaghan had a friend over, E, who is the perfect friend for Meaghan. She is short like her, skinner than her, and just as quiet. Two wispy peas in a pod. Whenever she comes over, I hardly see them. So when her dad, D, comes to pick her up, he naturally asks how things were. “Well you know,” I said, “She never shut up the whole time, she ate all my food, and got into everything.”
He gave one of those snorty laughs, “Figures.”

So, you know, it was a typical Saturday.