Moments with Mom

Mom--We put a new tree in the front yard.  Tress are expensive!

Niko--Are they?  Because they're literally free everywhere you look.

Mom was amused. 

****

Mom--(Searching through the bathroom drawer) Somehow...I lost my...

Niko--(Finishing her sentence for her) Dignity?

Mom--Lip gloss.

Mom was not amused.

****

Mom came back from an errand where she was "just going to run in here real quick" to find two disgruntled, sweaty children in the backseat, refusing eye contact, and pressing send on their phones.

Niko--We're sending you a couple articles on leaving your children alone in the car with the windows rolled up.

****

Mom made my sister's favorite meal minus the one ingredient she can't stand.

Mom--I brought dill just in case. Since you were the one who requested these burgers I didn't put any dill in because I didn't want to ruin them for you.

Niko--She's hoping you'll choose to ruin them for yourself.

Mom--They're SO MUCH better with dill. They really need it.

She sets the bottle of dill in the middle of the counter like a gauntlet and turns her back.

Sister--What can I say? I'm a mess of complaints.

Niko--I'm going to use that in your eulogy: "She often described herself as a mess of complaints. We'll miss that about her. Not her complaining; her willingness to point out her own flaws so the rest of us didn't have to."