Saturdays Backwards and Forwards

On this, the last Saturday of 2007, a Saturday retrospective seems appropriate. For me, Saturday mornings more than likely included a mother-daughter breakfast or lunch at a B'town eatery. In fact, I've frequently described many of those meals including breakfast at Cafe D'Lish and lunch at Truilli Flatbread. Saturdays from May through September more than likely also included trips to the eclectic Bloomington Farmers Market. It's a cacophony of cultures, religions, ethnicity and lifestyles that truly epitomize Liberalville.

Once a month, Saturday afternoons were spent having my hair tinted and trimmed at Champs Elysee Aveda Salon. And what would Saturdays be without regular trips to Sam's Club. As I've said many times, when memberships are listed in my obituary, Sam's Club will be the only one. The "sample" ladies now smile when they see Mom and me coming towards them...except when they're offering goo in a hot pocket.

Then Saturday evenings are always spent relaxing at Chateau Hamm in the country, watching for snowfall or the barn swallows to return in the spring. How I love spending Saturday nights on the patio and listening to the tree frogs, crickets and the mother cows calling their calves. Many cold winter Saturday nights, I'm curled up in the recliner with a glass of wine, my crochet project and Lord of the Manor watching a movie or in the steamy summertime, discussing our plans for Sunday on his boat at Lake Monroe.

Now as one year ends and another begins, I look into the future and the 52 weeks of Saturdays ahead. Will the new year bring any changes? Change is always inevitable. But equally as cliche, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." I can only hope that's true for my favorite day of the week.

A Night at the Ballet. Christimas Can Come Now.

Let Christimas time in Bloomington officially begin. For some people,the holiday season begins with the flipping of the switch on the canopy of lights on the Bloomington courthouse square. But for me, it's the Mother-Daughter night at the yearly debut of the Nutcracker ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music. Last night was the ninth year my mother and I have seen the holiday spectacular and in some cases, watched the community young dancers grow from small candle fairies to important dancers in the company. We've also been fortunate to sit next to parents' from as far away as California who come to see their daughters dance on point to a complete, live orchestra with the direction of some of the world's finest choreographers, costume designers and stage managers.

But for me, its an evening and a holiday tradition my mother and I share like so many other mothers and daughters (and fathers) in the audience. Many times over the years, I've been tired from a stressful week at work, saddened by events out of my control or just wanting to be somewhere else. But then, once I see the towering Nutcracker in the theatre's lobby and see my mother waiting patiently, dressed for a night out, I realize, the evening is about the beautiful music, the wonderful dancers and most of all the Mother-Daughter holiday tradition. I'm so fortunate to be able to share it with my mommy.