Stepping Out of the Boat

Last night for her "Last Hurrah" we went to a place called Bob's - the same place we went for my (Claire) birthday dinner. We had a great time having a meal together, and Mom insisted on paying.

For her last dinner in the DR, she had a wrap with sweet plantains, chicken, and cream cheese. Since I have a cold, I decided to go for soup, and the soup of the day happened to be made out of a huge orange squash-like veggie that they have here. It was so creamy and buttery! I'm sure it helped my cold. John had his favorite: the applewood smoked burger. We like Bob's because, unlike at other places here, the food always tastes really good - like home good. I'm sure many of you do not find our dinner fare interesting, but for us, yummy food is always worth talking about. We had a wonderful time, and we hadn't even started feeling sad yet. Mom was ready to go back and have a quiet evening with us. Little did she know, however, that Becky, Sonya, and Kari had a surprise cooked up for her when we got home.

Earlier in the day, close to the time when we were measuring John for the tux he'll need to wear for his best friend's wedding in May (see right), Becky had called me aside and said she wanted to have a little surprise good-bye party for my mom. We stealthily made a plan, and my mom had no idea whatsoever. When we got home, Becky called out into the hallway and said she wanted us to come see something in her apartment. We had planned on having it on the roof, but the clouds passing overhead were ominous, and it looked like rain. So, I made sure Mom walked in first, and SURPRISE!!!

I tried to get a good shot of her looking surprised, but all I got was the back of her head. So, this is a shot of her feigning surprise as she loads up her plate with tropical fruit (her favorite - and luckily plentiful around here), brownies, and ice cream. Becky and Sonya did such a great job at the last minute putting this all together. We had a great time talking, eating dessert, and playing a silly game together. I think it was a much better way to end the time with my mom than having a "quiet evening" in the apartment thinking about the inevitable: she will be leaving tomorrow. Sorry about the blurriness of the picture on the bottom right, but the ambiance in the room involved many candles and not much overhead light, which makes for a great atmosphere, but not great pictures.

We all really enjoyed ourselves - and I certainly did my fair share of enjoying, too, because by the end of the evening, I knew I had enjoyed a little too much - done a little too much. My head cold had decided to attack. I felt so sick when I went to bed - I knew I had done too much for being sick. Oh well. How often does my mom get to visit me here in the DR?

Anyway, I ended up going to school today for two and a half hour and then coming home. I wasn't going to make it. Now, mom is in a taxi, or sitting in the Santo Domingo airport waiting to fly away from here for good. No worries, though, we'll be back in Bloomington before we know it, right?