Miss Me Myself and I goes to Mexico
My mother has been in Mexico for the last week and a half. She has gone to visit family friends who are so close, they really must be considered family. The couple she went to visit are Judith and her husband Daniel. Judith is with the US Embassy in Mexico City and her husband - a French chef, travels the world with her - usually securing a great position in some embassy kitchen - more recently he has been working with security firms who specialise in expat safety. Judith's father was my father's longest friend - they knew one another since they were 5 years old in Detroit. Relationships don't get much older than that one!Judith and Daniel were in Washington to help Mom move house last summer. They are godsends. And because they are extremely fond of my Mom - they have a lot more patience with her than I. You know, that whole thing with how annoying mothers can be to their own kids. I don't think it ever goes away.
Anyway - since being home for Christmas, I have conducted my regular calls home as a dutiful (if only slightly clingy) daughter and have listened to Mom warble on and on. It dawned on me that for the whole month of January - Mom spent each phone call talking about herself non-stop. I have to put aside the 80-year old excuse because Mom is not a typical 80 year old woman. She's as active and vibrant and intelligent and interactive as someone much younger and is a pleasure to be around - generally! But something has happened in the last few months and I have started to refer to her as 'Miss Me Myself and I'.
The world has shifted slightly. And is still shifting... just a bit to the left and a tiny bit up, no, down a bit, there. It's now entirely revolving around my mother.
I know that Judith and Daniel are absolutely rolling out the red carpet for my Mom and two cousins (Dorothy and Norio - the ones who depleted the Camembert stocks in Normandy last summer and ate so much butter I tried to sell them to OPEC). Judith and Daniel will take them to museums, markets, galleries, breathtaking vistas, amazing ethic and secret gourmet restaurants, side trips to Inca ruins and amazing resorts. They would have their guestrooms made up with crisp sheets, and fresh flowers and chilled bottled water. They would have their lovely housekeeper tidy the rooms daily, wash and iron everyone's clothes as needed and even do emergency sewing jobs in a second. Judith and Daniel would bring the car around and plan the walking tours with the least stairs possible, and ensuring they passed by benches for Mom to take mini breaks throughout. They are incredibly thoughtful and caring.
I called to check up on them yesterday. Judith answered her phone and recounted the fun they were having and the things they were doing. Yesterday, they were driving out to the beach from Merida to see a beautiful Flamingo farm and spend the day on the water. They had been staying in a beautiful Hacienda with luxurious amenities such as vanilla scented jacuzzi baths and massage therapists, fresh fruit prepared anytime anywhere etc. Judith and Daniel standard treatment.
Judith handed the phone to 'Miss me Myself and I'. Miss Me Myself and I started in with 'yes', she having a good time although the first day she did bang her shins in the van (rented especially for driving everyone around in comfort) and that produced terrible contusions. She's a had a fine time wandering around even though her knees are acting up a bit. She has had incredible food even though she's had a bit of tummy trouble as usual. She's been napping extremely well, but sleeping only fitfully through the night in the gorgeous bedrooms she's in. She is enjoying the fine warm weather, but her skin is a bit dry and she feels a bit overheated at times. She would be having the time of her life is only she didn't bang her shins in the van they rented...round we go....
Conscious of the fact that all parties were sitting in the van with Mom - I did manage to swing the conversation around to talking about other people or things - and she did pretty well. A sentence or two and then it was back to 'she, herself and her'.
OK. Maybe it is the 80-year old thing. All the talk of physical ailments...typical of some old biddy. But I am not ready for that. I mean my mother has travelled all over the world in her lifetime. I remember when we were having dinner with my cousins at a bistro next to my home in Brussels last summer. We were talking about traffic in Paris and Mom just uttered, 'I think the traffic is OK in Paris - I mean compared to Mexico City , Karachi and Bombay...' It hit me just how much my mother has travelled - with or without Dad. Maybe she has reached that age where she has shifted from 'cosmopolitan foreign service world traveller' to 'freak of nature who amazingly, made it there and back without requiring the help of the UN emergency medical aide disaster team...' God help me.
I have rented the beach house this summer in Normandy as usual. Mom is making her annual trip to see me. Correction, she comes to see her 'grand-dog' not me...seriously! I am just a by-product. A chauffeur, a caterer and a housekeeper. I must take her to Honfleur on the way down for an overnight, stop wherever she wants and make sure she gets enough butter everyday. I can't understand why my brother and his wife don't want to come along....gee
(The plan for that trip: to get her wined and dined enough each night that she's asleep by 10 PM - that way I can sneak out the patio door, run down the dunes and scream at the top of my lungs to save my sanity......Or make sure I have some hot guy there to help me loosen up a bit....hmm, I like the sound of option 2)
Anyway - you should know that Miss Me Myself and I is having a wonderful time in Mexico and you'll hear all about it on next weeks call.
posted by Brussels Confidential @ 10:23 AM
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