Grammy

Tonight we went out to dinner with my mother in law. We went to Applebee's, which I am not a big fan of...and apparently neither is my son. I spent about 20 minutes asking them where they wanted to go. You know how it goes,"I don't care. Anywhere is fine. I'm just hungry." My daughter suggested Applebees. This was a good suggestion as it was not a place that Leonard and I went to and I am having a hard time doing the things we used to do. At that moment my son popped up with,"I hate Applebees...!" I don't know how this is possible since he has never been there. My seasoned parental response? "Too bad. Too late. Done deal..." I know, I'm really good at building character. He spent most of the day (it was a half day) with my mother in law and was kind of beat so I gave his restaurant mini tantrums (i.e. just loud enough to make everyone at the table lose their appetite, but not loud enough to cause him any embarrassment from other diners) a break. This is usually followed by an "I miss daddy, remember when..." session. So far it hasn't happened, but I am girding myself.

It is difficult to see my mother in law because little bits and pieces of less than flattering things she has said about me have come back to me. Ummmm....people....I don't really need to know everything she thinks of me. We did manage to have an okay time. And I do care about her. There are just...how do I put it...issues there.

It is now 8:25 and all is calm in the house.

I have decided to write little bits and pieces of just who Leonard was on this blog, due to some feedback I have received...and I'm sure you all know I could talk about him forever. I think it might be helpful to me because my main worry is that time will pass, and people will forget. I'm going to attempt to write little thumbnail sketches of our life together.

I know I had mentioned elsewhere in this blog that Leonard and I first met when we were 12. He sat behind me in 7th grade. Another interesting factoid is that we actually dated and broke up, at age 18, before actually falling in love (ha! he said it first even) at 22. We dated for a year at the age of 18. I broke up with him because...don't laugh...he was too nice. Seriously. He opened doors for me, escorted me to the bathroom (how embarrassing) called me "Love" and, worst of all, enjoyed spending time with my parents. My father adored him even then. He would pick up fast food, ice cream, you name it for them on his way to pick me up (usually a half hour early when I wasn't even done with my hair). It used to irritate the heck out of me. Remember, this was 1988 and I wanted a "bad boy". Think Motley Crue/Poison/GunsNRoses here. So I did what any idiot would do. I broke up with him. For 4 years my father would, every once in a while ask, "What ever happened to that Leonard? I really liked him." I never admitted it to my family but I started missing him the day after we broke up.