October 15th, 2005

"Audrey... Sweet pea... Audrey... AUDREY!" My mom was trying to wake me up. I heard her, and I suppose technically I was awake, but I was not quite yet ready to physically respond. She came over and sat on the side of my bed. "Honey, what time do you need to be there for work today? Want me to make you something for breakfast? Do I have time to wash your clothes from last night or no? Sweetie... Audrey... are you awake?"

"Yes... I'm awake." I muttered without opening my eyes or moving my head from my pillow.

"Sweet pea... what time do you need to be there? It's 10:45. I heard you come in last night so I know your event last night went late. Your father and I were getting nervous you might oversleep. Honey...?"

"I'm awake, Mom. Kind of. I'll get up in a minute, really. I think I need to be there at... noon, maybe? I've got time..." It was amazing how good I was at talking out of only the far side of my mouth.

"Ok, well... isn't the party a bit further away? Greenwich or something near there?"

"Uhmmm... Darien, it's in Darien... I think."

"Aud, that's still about a half an hour away. You should probably leave in about 45 minutes. Do you want breakfast before you leave?"

"I can just have cereal, thanks Mom."

"Well, I was going to make waffles anyway for Izzie. You want some?"

"Sure, mom."

"Ok, well can you get up? Honey... I don't want to nag but I'll feel a lot better once you are in the shower."

----

Twenty minutes later and I was still in the shower. The warm water was slowly working it's magic but I couldn't find the strength to get out quite yet. I'd been working at a rehearsal dinner the night before and while I knew going into it that those events went later than some of the corporate events the catering company did, I was not expecting the kind of partying - or tipping - the group we were working for had in store. My boss decided to stick around much later than our contract stated when the groom forked over $1500 in cash to keep the party going. But we never expected things to last until 2:30 in the morning. By the time we'd packed everything up it was 3:30 and I wasn't in bed until around 4am.

"Audrey! Come for waffles! Mommy made them for us!" Isabelle had clearly been tasked with getting me out of the shower.

I slowly turned the water off. "Ok, Izz, I'll be right down."

-----

My mom's waffle recipe probably came off the back of an Aunt Jemima bottle, but they tasted better than ay other waffles I'd ever had. Waffles were always our treat growing up on snow days, or on weekends after good report cards, and there was still power in them to me to this day.

"Honey, you want one more?" my mom asked with a smile. She was kind of a closet health nut and I'd had three alreayd so I knew she was spoiling me with this offer.

"Mom, are you worried about me?" I asked her point blank as she stood there ready to load another waffle onto my plate while looking charming in her gingham apron.

"Sweet pea... what? What do you mean?"

"The wake up, the waffles... it's like I'm back in 8th grade. I'm just wondering what you are thinking is all."

"Aud, no.... not really. Honey, I just know this catering job isn't really what you were hoping to be doing right now. And I'm sure it was hard for you with Henry in the city all summer, coming home with all kinds of stories and things like that. And I bet the event last night was exhausting. So I guess maybe... I suppose I am trying to help you out a little. I can't help it. I just want to make today a little easier on you."

"Yeah, ok. Well, today should be easier." I picked up my glass of orange juice and swirled it around as I spoke. "Hopefully this birthdy party won't go very late and I can get a few more job applications out this afternoon. I'm definitely ready for something new, BUT... things could be worse." I put the glass down. "At least I'm no longer painting the garage with Dad, right? Hah. Now that, that was torture."

My Mom smiled. It was an odd feeling - me trying to make her feel better. For the majority of my life that dynamic had gone the other way. But it