This Midwestern Life

There’ll be no international travel this week. No cutting edge fusion cuisine, clubbing or Broadway shows. No, this is a glimpse into my very ordinary, perfectly lovely Midwestern life.

“Mom, let’s get up!” and he’s off and literally running. I am not. I lie in bed trying to wake up and focus on getting out of bed. Once I’m out of bed and the coffee is brewing, making kamut waffles is first on the list. Then it’s reviewing recipes, making a grocery list, drinking coffee and a quick browse of Facebook to see how the end of the world went for everyone (pretty uneventful as far as Raptures go). Hubby puttering around in the background until he heads out to the gym. Paolo and I plant wild flower seeds in a few pots and water plants and patches of dirt. I weed the garden while Paolo digs for worms and rolly pollies (isopods). Bring in the worms and add them to our now dead pet worms. Water them, add a few coffee grounds and cross our fingers for this batch of pet worms.
Shower and cleanup and then it’s off to the grocery store where I challenge Paolo to use 10 Spanish words or phrases spontaneously (in exchange for a chocolate milk). Paolo finds this challenge amusing and we speak Spanish for most of our shopping trip. I splurge and buy frambuesas and rice chips (do they taste like rice, Mom?) for the ride home. At home, I begin preparing for “once a week cooking” which turns out to be more like ‘once a week preparing to cook’, but the spaghetti noodles are cooked, the chicken is marinating, more chicken is chopped, asparagus is cut up and many of the before mentioned foods are frozen and ready to be defrosted and assembled for a weeknight meal. Paolo and Dad grill and play outside in this rare sunny, warm weather. Lunch and then a nap? Nope. Put a load of laundry in. Back outside to bring things to the garage and get things a little organized. Back inside to brew some tea and set it out on the patio to make sun tea. Outside again where Paolo plays golf (why would any toy manufacturer make kids golf balls GREEN?)’ rides his scooter, then his bike, and more golf, which is really more like baseball with a golf club than golf…at this point I am so exhausted that out of sheer desperation to sit down I suggest we walk over to Zesty’s for the flavor of the day. A quick dose of his asthma inhaler and then a pleasant walk over in the sun past a dandelion patch and kids on their skateboards. 15 blessed minutes sitting down with a Seroogys Mint Meltaway sundae and drippy, melty conversation with my son.

It’s off to my parents’ house where I finally collapse at the kitchen table and tag my mom.  I’m remembering 87 things I forgot we did as I wrap this up, but I’m too tired to add them. It may not be sophisticated, classy or dazzling, but for me, This Midwestern Life is perfect.