What's in a name?

Last week, I wanted to go to the metroplex and visit my natural family and do some shopping. I wasn't really for sure if I was going to go to the city or not at the first of the week, but by the time Friday afternoon got here, I was preparing the way.

I had talked with my nmom and told her I was thinking about coming and if I ended up going to the city, could I stay at her house. My nbrother has cats at his house and even though I love staying with his family, it takes me weeks to be able to start breathing normal again. I am sooooo allergic to cats! So I wanted to stay at my nmom's house for the weekend. She said "That's fine." I guess that really meant...."Yes, I would love for you to stay at my house. Please stay as long as you would like. In fact, stay here any time that you would like to. I just love it when you are here." Well, that is "my" interpretation anyway.

Friday night came and around 10:30 that night, I was off to the big city with my older son and a friend. We arrived about 1am. I was so tired.

The next morning, my son got up earlier than I and went to the living room. I was sort of awake and I heard my mom and him talking. I decided that I needed to stay in bed for awhile so that they could visit. They both need some one on one time to get to know each other.

Finally I got out of bed and went to the living room, said "Hi", and sat down for about 3 minutes to be with my son. Then off to the shower I went.

After my shower, I got on the computer to look for a Wii for my son. That was one of the main reasons to go to the city. He had saved up his money from his birthday to go buy a Wii and we didn't have any where we lived. I was hoping that we would find one on Saturday. Believe it or not, there was no Wii to be seen in the metroplex. I kept calling and calling and calling stores. Nope, not a one.

While I was using the computer to look up phone numbers, my mom came in the room to tell me that she was leaving and when she would be back. I told her that I would see her the next day because I was going to be with my sister-n-law all day and then had a date that night and wouldn't be in until late. My son was going to stay at my brother's house to visit with his cousin.

So Saturday flew by and I got back to my mom's house late Saturday night. When I got up Sunday morning, she was awake and we started talking about the cruise that we are taking in a few weeks together. It was a great conversation. We decided what we were going to do when we were going to be on shore and 3 hours later, my brother called for us to meet him and his family to eat and for me to pick up my son.

*******The reason for this post****************

My mother and I have been in each other's lives for 5 months now. The longest we have ever gone. In those 5 months, I have been calling her "Mom" to my friends and my brother, but never when she was present. I would always call her by her first name. It just didn't seem right for me to call her "Mom" while she was present because I have always called her by her name. Plus, I already have a "Mom". Five months ago we had the conversation of "What do you want me to call you" and she said "I would like you to call me Mom". I just couldn't. BUT, I have called her "Mom" for so long now to my friends that "Mom" just seemed right. So....

Before we left for lunch, I said "You remember 5 months ago when I asked you what do you want me to call you and you said you wanted me to call you Mom." She said, "Yes, but you can call me anything that you would like." I said "I would like to call you "Mom" if that is ok with you." She just shook her head that it was ok with her and I turned around to go get my shoes on. That was it. That's all it took.