WHEN WE SAY: “THANK YOU”, WE MEAN IT!

I got in touch with my sibs recently to discuss getting a Christmas gift for my mother, and her boy toy. All joking aside, Henry has been just a wonderful find, keeps a 93 year old company, they share meals at night, and he takes excellent care of Mom. When she doesn’t feel well, Henry cooks for her.

We came up with the idea that we would buy my Mom’s cell phone service for one more year, and for Henry, we thought we’d get him a special gift too. We decided to purchase $200 worth of separate meals from an Italian marketplace where we live. Each meal will be individually wrapped and frozen, and each meal is enough for the two of them to share. They don’t feel like cooking one night? Easy, just pull out a meal and pop it in the microwave and they are done!

So off I go to Mom and sit down with her and ask what Henry’s favorite foods are, and what to avoid.

I ring the doorbell and after a few minutes, she answers, wearing a patch on her right eye. She had mentioned to me days before about it, so I knew what to expect when I saw her.

“Come in, come in!”

“Hi Ma, is Henry here?”

“No, we can talk. Go sit down.”

“OK Ma, here is the menu, let’s go over things and see what we can order him.”

“Now what’s this for, his birthday?”

“Ma, when is his birthday?”

“April.”

“Ma, this is for Christmas, me and some of the girls thought it would be a good idea to give Henry something nice and thoughtful for all he does for you.”

“That’s nice! You notice anything different?”

Pretending not to notice, I say “New curtains?”

“You know Joseph (my official name) you’re just like your father. Henry will eat anything, except beef, we are not big beef eaters!”

“I don’t want to say anything Mom, but if he does like beef, we should get him some, no? It IS his gift! New rug?”

Getting a little piqued, she says OK, but won’t promise me he will eat it. So we don’t mention beef anymore, even though she is out of range of a wooden spoon!

I get up, kiss Mom goodbye and say:

“By the way Mom, don’t go joining any pirate ships until after the New Year.”