Meeting Mom

This past weekend I had the privilege of meeting Claudia's mom. Her mom likes to visit once a month, but sometimes life gets in the way, and it had been two months since her and Claudia had spent time together. So I was honored to be invited to be a part of their weekend.

Saturday afternoon, just after 3pm, I arrived at Claudia's place just moments after her and her mom. They had made a trip to the store to buy something to wrap a "Valentines" gift that Claudia had make for me. Once inside I was introduced to Mom and then I was told that I needed to stay out of the bedroom while Claudia wrapped the gift she made me. You see I knew ahead of time that she had made me a gift because she was so excited about making it that she couldn't keep it a total secret.

Moments later she ran out of the bedroom with a thin and square silver package. I must admit that I was very curious to see what she had made me for Valentines that took her over five hours to complete. I actually had an idea of what it could be due to her asking for a CD of my photos earlier that week. I figured she had one of my photos printed and put into a frame, but boy was I wrong. She took that idea several steps forward. She had 50 of my photos printed and she put them into a photo album. Oh, and not in a photo album with the crappy static pages. She bought an album with clear inserts. It came with white pages in the inserts but she chose to replace the white pages with black, which is best for displaying photos, and created hand made white tabs to hold the photos on the page. Her gift for me is an awesome gift. Most of the photos I had never seen as prints because it is more cost effective to look at them on the computer, but I caught myself thinking, "Oooh that photo looks even better as a large print."

After opening the gift Claudia, her mom, and I sat on the sofa and chatted for a while. As we started to get hungry her mom went into the kitchen to make cheese enchiladas from scratch. Claudia said that she can now cook them just like her mom, which is awesome because her mom's cheese enchiladas were delicious. Following dinner the three of us watch the movie "I Am Sam". Claudia and I had watched it together the weekend before. It was her first time to see the movie and she loved it so much that she wanted her mom to see it to. I too am a big fan of the movie. I've seen it over 10 times now. More conversation superseded the movie. I kept trying to get Claudia's mom to tell me embarrassing stories from Claudia's childhood, but Claudia wasn't having any of that and for the most part successfully stopped her mom from making her blush. I'm happy to say that I did hear a couple of funny stories.

Due to the bad weather Claudia and her mom decided earlier that afternoon that I should spend the night on the sofa, but when it came time for bed Claudia's mom came up with an even better idea and dug an air mattress from the closet. Shortly after blowing up my bed and covering it with blankets Claudia's mom went to bed. Claudia and I proceeded to stay up until 4am talking, making play list on her computer, and sharing our affection for one another. Instead sharing a king size bed with her mom Claudia decided she wanted to share the twin sized air mattress with me. I didn't mind that so much, but it turns out her mom wasn't a big fan of the idea. I felt bad for making Mom mad and while Mom was making breakfast I sent Claudia into the kitchen to hug and kiss her mom until mom couldn't be mad anymore. It must have worked because my portion of breakfast didn't kill me. It, much like dinner, was delicious.

Sunday morning and early afternoon were lazy times. We sat around talking and playing music for a good while. But neither I nor Mom could let the day waste away and we both did some work around Claudia's apartment. Mom did some cleaning and I make a few repairs. Around 2pm we all went to Chili's to eat lunch. While we were waiting on our food Claudia tricked me into taking a small physiological quiz. She called it a "game". After I played the "game" she proceeded to tell me that she sometimes uses the "game" during interviews of potential new associates at her job. Luckily I passed the test.

Shortly after 4pm the three of us went to my church together. Well, kind of together, for logistical reasons we road in two separate cars. I drove by myself and they shared a ride together. I thought it was very cool that Claudia's mom was willing to go to my Church. Right after church I had to say goodbye to Claudia and her mom because Claudia had to pack for a business trip that she was to leave for the next day. That and I wanted her to spend some more time with her mom. I love spending time with Claudia and she with me, but I felt that desire was taking away from necessary one on one time between her and her mom. I'm happy to report that Mom approves of me. My next quest is to win over Clauida's friends who are still a bit skeptical about me. But, I hear that they have been poking around my blog and myspace account and have liked what they have seen thus far.