Frightened Family

"I think you need to go back in your room now. You're starting to radiate on me." -my dearest mother

So much for having fewer restrictions on my isolation. Even as I sat down to write this post, my mom suggested I go to my room where I have the heater on so I can "warm up." But what she really meant was, "I'm going back to work now and don't trust you out in the kitchen alone. Who knows what you could poison." Oh the joys of being the family outcast.

On Saturday, my mom allowed me to go out to lunch with the rest of the family. I was so excited! The moment we stepped foot in the restaurant, she told the hostess that we needed to be seated far away from pregnant women and children. As we arrived to our table she told me I should sit on the end, just so I have more room. (Again, we all know what she really meant.) And then once everyone was about done eating, I got up to go to the bathroom. It wasn't even a second later and I was told to sit back down. Going to the bathroom in a public place was off limits. Instead, my mom made me wait until everyone was done, the bill was paid, and we arrived back home.

That afternoon there was a big high school boys basketball tournament taking place at the Events Center. Spending my day watching a bunch of competitive games sounded like the perfect plan. Until my mom got wind of the idea. No way was she going to let me go. "Do you know how many people will be there? And how many people you are going to know? They will all want to come talk to you. It is not worth the risk. You're staying home." And that was that. Well, until later that evening. My parents had a surprise anniversary party to attend and my brother had stopped home to get some food after a couple of the games. He told me he would sneak me back to the Events Center with him. I honestly would have gone if it weren't for the amazing pot of mac and cheese I was busy making myself. I had to choose between food I had been craving for the past 3 weeks or going against my mom's orders and escaping for the game. The choice was simple. The mac and cheese came out on top. It was a good thing too because my parents arrived home earlier than expected.

Then came Sunday morning. Unfortunately, I still was not able to attend mass with my family. But that afternoon, I had picked out all of this yummy and healthy food I wanted my mom to get while she was at the grocery store. The list included items like:  quinoa, sweet potatoes, black beans, lots of fresh fruit, and fresh veggies. The recipe I was most excited to try was for black bean/sweet potato/quinoa burgers. My mom and I decided we would have those for dinner, along with a few other things. My dad and brother were gone for the afternoon, and when they arrived home for dinner, the look on my brother's face was priceless. I won't tell you what he compared the looks of them to because it is not for the weak of stomachs. Let's just say, it was nothing having to do with food. Yet he agreed to try them. However after one bite, the rest of his food ended up on my plate. Even my dad was skeptical about the burgers and opted out for something else. My mom and I loved them though. The rest of dinner was spent listening to my brother and dad make jokes about the food I was eating. Kyle pulled out his iPhone numerous times to ask Siri what she thought of the food, and my dad kept quoting lines from movies that related to the situation. None of us could stop laughing.

That evening my brother and I both had loads of homework to do. We were at the barstools in the kitchen working on it while watching the Grammy's and my mom and dad were nearby reading the paper and using the iPad. All was well. Later a couple of Kyle's friends came over and they headed downstairs to work on more homework. My mom took his spot at the bar and we ended up looking up fun foods on Pinterest for Valentine's Day. It wasn't long after when my mom started complaining that she was itching. I didn't think anything of it. She got up and made some tea, and while the water was heating up, she said, "Keri, you are making me itch. You're radiating on me!" I looked at her confused and started laughing. She went on to say, "I'm being serious. This is not funny, I can't stop itching and I've been around you a lot today." Wow. Thanks mom. I love you too. My dad could be heard laughing from the living room. Then I started to laugh again. And finally my mom couldn't contain herself anymore either. She was itching her arms and crying tears of laughter all at the same time. As you could probably guess, I was sent back to my room for the night.

Then today I was telling her about how I didn't sleep well again last night. She made a few comments and responded, "I didn't sleep very good either. I kept waking up freezing cold." I told her to join the club and that she could only complain about that if she didn't have a thyroid. Her response was, "Well I'm sure having you radiate on me so much has hurt my thyroid a little too, so that's why I was so cold." Seriously? Again, I can feel the love.

Another common phrase my mom likes to share out of panic is, "You can't see it, smell it, taste it, or touch it, so how am I supposed to know that it's not harming me!?!!?" It's those times that I remind her that I'm the one that actually had to ingest it so she should consider herself lucky. I win that battle every time.

Now, I don't want any of you to think poorly of my mother. While sometimes she is being serious, majority of the time she is joking around and we both end up in an uncontrollable laughter. And she can't be that afraid of me if she offered to take me to The Vow tomorrow for Valentine's Day. Although she did say we could only go to the matinee because there wouldn't be very many people there, and we have to sit in the back away from anyone who is there. Oh, and I doubt she'll let me go to the bathroom. She'll probably even sit a seat away from me.

All things considered, I would not trade my family for the world. They have all made countless accommodations to make this entire process work. Plus, adventures are not fun unless there is a lot of laughter involved. I love them all more than they know!

And mom, since I started with a quote from you, I'll end with one for you. It is one of my favorites:

"The truth is, even if she weren't my mom, I would go out of my way to be friends with her."  xoxo, your radiating Keri Ellen