It Is Enough

I knew Caris and Bry were planning to take me to breakfast. But the honest truth is, I thought, knowing their sleep-in records, that breakfast would be around lunchtime. Imagine my surprise when, at 8:00 AM, Caris and Bryson were BOTH out of bed and getting ready. THEN, I looked out the living room window and saw Averie's car pull up in front of the house. On a Sunday!

Now I know none of them has any money. The fact that Averie lives in LA and gas money alone is something precious, Bryson is saving for his campus visit trip at the end of the month, and Caris, with school busting her chops is barely working enough to pay her car insurance, I did not have expectations for Mother's Day. Seriously, I didn't even know Mother's Day was this past Sunday until Saturday afternoon when Wes asked me what I was doing. When I found out, I told them to PLEASE not buy me any presents. No flowers. No gifts. Don't do anything special. I meant it. There are those days when I'm glad they don't listen to me. This is one of them.

Usually, if we're planning a family outing, Charlie and I are in the car waiting for one dragging straggler or another to finish their hair or makeup. This time, everyone was ready. We were in the car and to the restaurant before I knew it. It's been a LONG time since the five of us were seated at the same table at the same time. I found myself taking a moment to reflect on those years when this was a daily occurrence. While they focused on their menus and laughed about...well, pretty much everything, I watched them interact with each other. For all the years of sweet sibling hugs and "I love my baby brudder", which melted into adolescent screams of "You're a penis wrinkle!" and "Oh yeah? Well, you're ugly!" It all comes full-circle to this. Laughter. The simple enjoyment of each other's company. To plan together to get up early and take me to breakfast.

I listen to their conversations. Where once our table talk consisted of the fact that yellow and blue mixed together make green, or that there's a sleepover at So-and-so's, now they speak of job interviews and resumes, paying their rent on time, and quirky professors who grade their speeches on global and environmental awareness. The fact that two out of three of them can order a Bloody Mary does not slip by me. I wonder where my babies went and how quickly the time passed between a glass of milk and a Mimosa.

The girls pass me a couple of cards and I begin to read. The tears flow onto my Eggs Benedict. No diamond could ever possibly be of greater value than the words in these cards. Bryson looks around uncomfortably. I jokingly ask him where his card is and he grabs a napkin off the table and asks his sisters if they have a pen. Caris says..."Dude, you suck." And just like that, we're back to the "penis wrinkle" days. Priceless laughter. This is my reward. I feel loved. It is enough for me.