Birthday Weekend

At this exact time 12 years ago I had just gone to McDonalds and eaten a double quarter pounder with cheese and a large fries, then walked for as long as a huge pregnant lady can walk after eating all that, then sat down to watch Victor/Victoria (it just happened to be on TV). At 10 pm I got up to go to the bathroom and--splash!--my water broke while I was on the toilet. Sorry for the sound effect but it was notably funny that it did literally sound like a water balloon had dropped into the bowl.

Anyway, here I am, 12 years later, sitting on a different sofa with a crick in my neck that I swear hurts more than labor did. (not to gloat but I actually never had any labor pains at all with Mimi--I'm not even kidding). Yesterday I took Mimi and her friend for a birthday weekend "away"--if you could being 30 minutes south of here at an Embassy Suites away. I had been dreading it--stuck with two 12 year-old girls for 24 hours--can you imagine? But I was actually pleasantly surprised--it wasn't half bad. Better yet, it was even--dare I say it?--fun.

You would think that two 12 year-old girls together would be double the surly-ness and, therefore, intolerable, but it was actually the opposite; they somehow cancelled each other's hormones out or something and were downright pleasant to be with. We went to see Baby Mama--I give it an 8, btw--went to the hotel pool, ate pizza and watched TV.

It was all good until bedtime. The friend had to leave at 9 so it was just me, Mimi and a king-sized bed. We hadn't had time to watch a movie with the friend so it was now time for the movie. There were at least 10 movies that were both suitable for a 12 year-old and fun for me to watch. But of course that would have been too easy--after much deliberation, Mimi chose the feature-length Hannah Montana concert.

I managed to read for a while with the help of earplugs, then actually fell asleep before the movie was even over. At 2 am I was woken up with an elbow jab to the eye, courtesy of Mimi who manages to take up the entire bed, no matter how big it is. So I went to sleep on the sofa and must have slept wrong because I woke up with a ripping crick in my neck.

The sad reality is that I've been totally spoiled as far as hotels go. There is a world of difference between the Frette-sheeted bed in a salon suite at the Wynn and the pullout couch bed at Embassy Suites.

But I digress...bottom line is that, come midnight, I am the mom of an official 12 year-old girl.