hi, mom!

The coldish, coughish thing turned more coldish yesterday. Just as well, really. The coughing was getting on my nerves, as well as everyone else's.

Being sick at all right now is super irritating because my mom and my stepdad are here for the holidays. This is a big deal, because they flew all the way over here from Australia, which is a minimum of 19 hours in planes if you make only one stop in California. They had a second stop in Dallas.

My sister and I didn't know they were coming. I went out to lunch on Thursday with two co-workers. This is in no way unusual, so I suspected nothing (Jane-the-gardener and Joe-the-office-roomie were in on it). We'd been in the restaurant all of five minutes when I noticed people walking in. At first, I only saw the backs of their heads, but I thought, "Gee, that lady looks a lot like my mom." And then she turned the corner, and it WAS my mom. And I said the most completely original thing I could think of, "OMG, it's my mom!" And Steve (my stepdad) was right behind her.

I had talked to my mom earlier in the week, and she said they were "going away for the holiday." She even came up with the elaborate explanation that they were driving to Melbourne and then going to New Zealand.

They're here through the 27th. Mom will be back for a conference in Florida at the beginning of January. To anyone with a sane mind and a drop of Christmas spirit, it would make more sense if she just stayed here through part of January, but her boss isn't letting her do that, since he wants to take all of January off (I don't see the connection either). Can anyone say "Grinch?"