Mother's Day

Sunday was Mother's Day and I snapped at my mom.  Yes, it sounds truly horrible, but I couldn't help it.  It came out of no where.  Part of me knows I didn't do the right thing.  Yet I am proud of it.  I want her to be aware that I AM AWARE that something is not right.  Let me explain...
I told my brothers ahead of time that I wanted to take my mom out to dinner for Mother's Day.  I figured if she works (which she usually does on Sundays) that it would be nice for her to come home and not worry about dinner.  I know it's traditional to take mom out for brunch, but dinner would better for us and it wouldn't be as crowded.  Let's face it.  Sometimes parents can be tricky.  Because I know my mom so well, I knew she would put up a fight and try to knock the idea down.  "You don't have to do anything.  Everyday is Mother's Day."  I wouldn't take no for an answer.  I told her we would pick her up and that's that.
When I went with my mom to her doctor's appointment two weeks ago, I got a chance to enjoy her company more because we were out of the house.  I am terribly allergic to her dog, not to mention my asthma kicks in as well.  She hates putting the dog away because he yelps so much and she feels guilty.  Meanwhile me and my other brother are dying and have to always cut our visits short to an hour or so.  We both take 24 hour allergy medication but those things only work for 2 hours max.  Then my wheezing sets in and I have to go.  It's a nuisance because we can't stay as long as we'd like.  Her dog means the world to her so it puts all of us in a bind.  What can you do?   
I figured my plan was fool proof but I could tell that she looked tired from work and really didn't want to go back out for dinner.  We settled at one of our favorite restaurants that's a few blocks away.  Las Tablas is a favorite of Chicagoans for good Colombian food since 1991.  We started to look over the menu.  I have been craving their chicken plate for months and was excited to order.  My mom, not so much.  "I think I'm going to have the soup," she said.  "SOUP???  We didn't come all the way here for you to order soup!!  Order something mommy!  You need to eat!"  I think I took everyone by surprise when I snapped but I couldn't help it.  She's lost a lot of weight and it's noticeable.  She had soup that day when I treated her to lunch after her doctor's appointment.  She needs to eat even if she doesn't feel like it.  I think back to some of our nightly conversations where she's mentioned how tired she is; how she's going straight to bed and not having any dinner because she's not hungry.  She's tired because she's depressed.  It sucks because for over 4 weeks they have scheduled her days off separately and not back to back.  She is so close to retiring but she's not getting the proper rest that she deserves.  She's a 65 year old woman who wants her full retirement.  She is pushing herself.  She's also gone through so much in a short amount of time.  She was going to therapy at one point but because of her work schedule changing her days off from week to week, she had trouble keeping her appointments.
I know she's depressed and I feel terrible about it.  I also think she has her good days and bad days.  We managed to continue our dinner and had some laughs.  There was someone at the restaurant who was taking pictures of all the families.  I thought it was a great idea and she loved her photo.  It was a sweet gesture on their part.  We continued catching up even when our dinner was over.  That's the one thing that did make the dinner impersonal.  We weren't quite in our dining room.  We were at a restaurant and we had to make our way out of there.
Yesterday we met up again at my mom's house for dinner.  She had both her days off back to back again, so she wanted to make dinner for us.  I made sure I took my 24 hour Allegra before I got there.  We had a nice time gossiping on family stuff.  She looked good.  In a few short months, her life will get a lot easier.  I can't wait...

Wore my old flare jeans with cork wedges.  I wish it would stay warm enough for sandals!

I figured I'll wear my floral print blazer for Mother's Day. 

My brother bought my mom this beautiful orchid!

Time for dinner at Las Tablas!

My mom and me...

Gotta love snapchat's filters...

Bros...



Empanadas for starters...

This chicken is PERFECT!!

My mom ate everything off her plate!  Breaded pork chops...

The infamous picture!  This was so sweet of them to do! 

A very special Mother's Day...

Happy Monday world!!  Sometimes I get the Monday Blues, but I try to fight off the funk with some positive vibes.  Think about it.  It's the start of a new work week.  Try to demolish your goals so you can sit back and praise the work you have done.  Any type of effort will increase your chances on getting stuff accomplished.  Right now for me personally, it's to finish up May's events on my blog.  lol
Back in May, me and my brothers tried to convince my mom to let us take her out for dinner on Mother's Day.  But she wasn't having it.  She really wanted us to come over instead.  My only problem with that is her overly-hyper dog.  I'm asthmatic and me and my brother are both allergic to her dog.  It would have been nice to not to meet at her house for a change so me and my brother could breathe properly.  Not to mention our time is always limited with our mom because we end up leaving early.  What can you do?  Despite us taking some Allegra for our allergies, it still doesn't eliminate the problem completely.  She also hates leaving the dog out in the yard.  He yelps too much, so she always caves and lets him in.
My asthma and allergies have had conflicts in my life through out the years.  Despite what people think, I had pets early in my life, although it would have been wise not to.  I would use my inhaler constantly.  I never "overcame" my asthma.  When I moved out of my mother's house with my first boyfriend, it didn't stop there.  One day he came home and brought home a dog.  A couple of months later, he brought home a cat.  Now I'm in my 20s and I STILL didn't overcome my asthma.  This was becoming a problem in my life and in my relationships.  When we finally broke up, he took our pets and I haven't had a pet since.
The problem with this is people are IN LOVE with their pets and they assume, I do not like animals because I won't get near them.  That is false, of course.  But since people look at their animals as part of the family, they cannot grasp the concept of locking their animals away whenever me and my brother come around.  I look like the bad guy. 
I wish my mom would have done the same for us, but she loves her dog so much and couldn't keep him outside while we were there.  So again, our home cooked meal was limited to an hour and a half before me and my brother's allergies got the best of us.  I think because my mom is still in mourning, she wasn't ready to face a crowded restaurant.  She just wanted to be home.  Come to think about it, she really doesn't go anywhere but her house and work.  I'm hoping we can take her out to dinner in a restaurant when her birthday comes around in September.  Let's pray that she'll let us!  It would be nice for her to get out and about once in a while. 
This mother's day was an emotional one for her, but at least we spent it together as a family.

WE LOVE OUR MOM!!!

She means so much to me.

My younger brother and my mom.  He is the only one who doesn't have a problem with her dog.  LUCKY!!

My "older" brother and my mom.  He is not asthmatic like me but has seasonal allergies as well as being allergic to pets.