It always begins when my brother shows up!

Mom and I woke up at a reasonable hour and had a leisurely breakfast. I had tea instead of my usual gift shop coffee. We spent a lot of nice time just chatting and enjoying each other’s company. By the time I finished chatting, showering and making sure all was well with her it was time for me to catch the shuttle to the airport. Mom went to play cards with Mary and other friends.

The shuttle was taking some ladies to the port first so I got to see the cruise ships, that was pretty cool. They’re huge and look very glamorous. Some rooms (or whatever they’re called… cabins?) even have their own balconies with chaise lounges so that you can relax and look out over the water as you sail!

At the airport I got a coffee and read as I waited for my brother’s plane to land. It was early so he was calling me before I was even ready to greet him. We met by the escalator and he didn’t even recognize me because I have lost more weight plus got this stupid hair cut. He did say, however, that he usually doesn’t like short hair yet he liked my new hairstyle. That made me feel a little better.

We went over to Enterprise where we talked them into adding me as an extra driver without charging the extra driver fee… since I’m a frequent customer and we’re brother and sister. He ended up renting a Sebring Touring convertible. It was so cool  Florida was unfortunately cold but we put the top down anyway. We put up the windows and put on the heat. I was wearing my Christmas sweater and a ¾ sleeve shirt so I was warm enough. As the wind whipped through my hair I was sort of glad I had the new style.

We headed back to Mom’s and hung out with her for awhile then took Mary and Mom out to dinner at a local steak house. They did NOT want to go with the top down. Mary said she thought convertibles were stupid and Mom was concerned about her hair. *sigh* My brother reminded mom how much she would have loved a top-down convertible back in the old days. “I got my adventurous genes from you, Mom.” She agreed, but still didn’t want the top down.

When we got back from dinner, some folks were gathered in the lobby of the apartment building and were singing carols as one lady played the piano. Mom and Mary and I sat on couches as we waited for my brother to park the car. Several of the residents called my mom by name asking her to sing for them. She has always had a beautiful singing voice as well as played piano, herself. She and Mary did a beautiful duet of Silent Night. We sang several other carols and songs. My brother joined us on the couches and everybody sang for quite some time. It was really fun and made it feel like the holidays. That was one of the high points of the trip. It was particularly wonderful listening to my mother’s voice which has not really deteriorated much, especially compared to the rest of her which has been so claimed by physical ailments. That brilliant soprano is still delighting listeners and is crystalline sharp.

When the evening ended, we convinced Mary to come up and sing a few more tunes with Mom. Her piano playing isn’t what it used to be but is still pretty good. They sang a bit, but were not tight as a duet at all, forgetting blocks of words and not well coordinated on harmonies any more. After their impromptu concert, I went down to Mary’s apartment and helped her find her cordless phone. She had set it down somewhere and couldn’t find it. I called it with my cell phone and tried to find it by listening to the ring. That didn’t work but I caught sight of it on a table on her porch so all was well in the end.

Mom and I watched most of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while my brother did business on his laptop. She had never seen it and it’s one of my favorite Christmas movies albeit pretty silly 😉 I think she enjoyed it. After that, she hit the hay. My brother and I watched a bit of TV and talked then we went to sleep too in anticipation of a long drive in the morning.