Sunday, December 16, 2007

LET'S HOPE IT'S A GOOD ONE

A pretty good day yesterday. I'd already told Tabbatha I'd take Paul shopping so he could buy a present for her, then she called in the morning and said she was thinking of going into work to pick up some overtime if I could spend a little more time with Paul. No problem.

After dinner with my sister Ann--she had to drop off the DVD of The Star Wars Holiday Special she'd burned for me, and curiously, Paul expressed no interest in seeing it--it was off to shop. Paul had two things in mind for his mom, and we bought both of them. I can't tell you one, because it would ruin the surprise, but the other one we already gave her: A watch.

In Paul's words, "She never wears a watch, so she needs one. Plus, it's purple, and she really loves purple. Plus, it has hearts on it."

I decided to price a few things while we were at it, and wound up in the electronics section. Paul wasted no time pointing all the things he wanted, then paused in front of the discount DVDs and pulled out a copy of La Bamba. "I've seen this! It's really good, but it's really sad. Have you seen it?"

"Yeah," I said, powerfully resisting the urge to geek out over Marshall Crenshaw's deathless cameo as Buddy Holly, pulling him away as he started telling me all about the movie's invented details of Richie Valens' life.

As we approached the checkout counter, Paul suggested the watch should actually be a present from both of us. Oh, I said, and why is that?

"Because it has hearts. And you still love my mom."

Um, I said, and tried to change the subject.

He'd have none of it. "You still love her, right?"

Well...

"I know you do."

Uh...Oh look, an open check-out lane!

Fortunately, the cheap toys and candy of the check-out lane served as a distraction. Whew!

In any event, when Tabbatha arrived to pick up Paul, we gave her the watch, and she seemed pleased. He picked well. And she invited me over to spend Christmas night with her family. So happy holidays, or at least, happy enough.