Watching Bowling with my Dad, Getting a Manicure with my Mom

Last Saturday, the girls and I headed down to my parents' house to hang out, shop and have some laughs while Doc went down to the Oaisis to kick it old school with his homies. We spent Saturday afternoon with my Grandma shopping at the mall. We found clothes for the girls and Christmas gift ideas. I got Doc a gift for his birthday, which I'm trying to keep a surprise. Unfortunately, Riley inherited Doc's gift for discretion and now he knows all about it.

That night, we played poker. It was the Miller Gang minus one. We had a lot of fun and I won!!! I had been in a bit of a slump; my self-confidence vis a vis poker was kind of in the dumps. I had nearly convinced myself that my Dad could see through my cards and knew what I had no matter what I did to conceal it. This caused me to be the first one out most of the time. But Saturday night, I decided that he didn't in fact have the power to read me that accurately, especially once I stopped feeling nervous, thinking he could.

I ended up winning by taking him out on an all-in move after my Grandma ran out of chips. Then it was me and my mom in heads-up. I think she and I decided to call it a night rather than duke it out. Since I had the most chips, I won. It felt really good.

By the way, I think I upset Dad when I let him know how intimidated I was by his poker prowress. He doesn't like to bully people and he worries at things like a sore tooth when he thinks he's hurt someone's feelings. I want him to know that I had to go through this. I had to conquer my fear of the poker expert, otherwise, I will never be anything other than an amateur at the game. It is true that the only thing I have to fear is fear itself.

The next morning, we were all kind of frowsy and feeling like this:

Lucy was up all night. She is getting her molars in and has simply been difficult to live with these past few weeks. I love her, I do. But sometimes...nevermind. Anyway, Dad and I were snacking at the kitchen table, watching an ESPN Classic rebroadcast of the 8/13/1994 Seniors Showboat International Bowling Tournament from Las Vegas. I can't for the life of me think of the guy's name that won, but he kind of looked like the host of Password and Password Plus(also Betty White's husband) Allen Ludden:

Just picture him with a little less hair, a stripey polo-style bowling shirt and those awful, polyester, high-waisted, monstrosities called athletic pants and you'll have the idea. They showed this guy play several matches and he eventually won. Wanna know what the kitty was? $24,000. That's not really a lot of dough these days. We are so used to seeing 110k, million dollar payoffs these days for poker. And for poker, you don't even have to stand up, let alone swing a ball around for accuracy.

It was really fun to watch bowling with Dad. He is the only person I know in the world who enjoys watching bowling on TV. I used to resist watching it when I was a kid. It would come on TV on Saturday afternoons and Dad would have it playing. I guess with no M*A*S*H on TV bowling was his second choice. I have to also say that we both bowled on leagues: his was on Tuesday nights and mine was on Saturday mornings. We also played on a father-daughter league together. Bowling was the one sport on television at that time of my life that I really understood and had experience playing.

The thing that is fun about watching bowling with Dad is, it is the first time I remeber having a lingo-laden conversation. We would talk about a ball hitting the pocket or a strike that was a Brooklyn, picking up 7-10 splits and playing aggressively. We were able to judge the bowlers with some expertice. We also had favorites and not so favorites. I know there was one bowler that my Dad detested. A friend of his had seen this bowler (what is it with bowlers and me not remembering their names?) at a tournament. My Dad's only comment was, "Did you kick him in the knees for me?"

As we settled in to chips and salsa at 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday watching bowling from 1994, we began to banter about bowling. It felt familiar, since we talk similarly about poker these days. But it was very nostalgic. I haven't been able to get anyone to watch bowling with me. It's funny. Doc is pretty much game for anything, but not bowling. I don't understand his objections; no one is humiliated. I didn't really realize it was missing from my life until I sat down with Dad and enjoyed a match with him. I'm not sure I could ever convince my girls that bowling was something entertaining. I don't even think I could even get anyone to enjoy it ironically.

Now that I know this, I will be looking for opportunities to tune into the rare bowling match shown on TV. Hopefully, Dad will be around to enjoy it with me. Maybe, I'll make my girls watch. Perhaps I will be alone in the house with nothing else to do (yeah, right). At any rate, I will always enjoy watching bowling because it is entertaining, I know a lot about it, and even if he's not there physically, my Dad will be sitting next to me with a cold can of caffiene-free diet Pepsi, keeping the commentary going in "oooh"-ing in the right places.

When we were able to pull ourselves together Sunday afternoon, my Mom and I went out in search of a manicure and pedicure. She had found a great place and wanted to take me there, having recently seen the state of my toes. As we approached the nail salon, we noticed it was closed, so we moved on to the other location across town. I thought I saw it's neon sign on; it was. But it was not open. This location was situated near the shoe store and I showed her my dream shoes. And she bought them for me. xoxoxoxox It was very nice of her. She and Dad read the previous post and were planning on surprising me with them, but we are an impulsive lot.

We made our way over to the mall, where we knew we could get a manicure. We signed up on the list and discovered we had a ten to fifteen minute wait. Still in search of an audiobook, I convinced her to head over to Boarders Express. No luck on finding any good audiobooks for cheap but I did buy Christmas cards. Mom and I made plans to get together and do our Christmas cards all at once. That way, we can share her address book and I know they will get in the mail. My Mom's drive to see a task through to the end knows no bounds.

We returned to the nail salon and finished waiting. I went first. A young, Asian guy called my name and had me sit at station 7. He asked me what I wanted and I told him just a manicure and I handed him the dark rose colored polish I wanted. He convinced me to get white tips for only $5 more, at least that is what I thought I was getting myself in for. I could barely understand him.

He got a crystal bowl and filled it with sudsy water. He had me put one hand in it while he buffed the nails on the other hand. When he had finished buffing both hands, he told me to soak both my hands for five minutes and he took off into the back of the store. I'm sure he went to have a smoke; when he returned I caught a whiff of cigarettes.

He continued working on my hands in a very deft and clinical manner. I even received a hand massage which felt very good. However, the whole thing sort of made me feel cheap. I think it was his approach. Usually, when women have spa treatments of any kind, it is to be pampered. There is a social aspect to it as well. Part of what I like about getting my hair done is chatting with the stylist. This guy was not interested in me. He didn't even pretend to be interested, which is all I really ask for from personal services people. I believe he was doing this job until something better kicked in. Or until he got permanent citizenship.

But, my nails looked great and I decided to enjoy the experience instead of letting him ruin it for me. Besides, I rarely get to sit still for five minutes while my hands soak in warm water, daydreaming. Mom got the same nail treatment as I did and hers was performed by the world's tiniest manicurist. She was an Asian lady who must have been a size 6x. She did chat a bit with my Mom. The best part of the whole experience was sitting with my hands under warm lights, talking to my Mom. I wish we could have sat together for the manicure. Next time, maybe...

My kids and I had a great time hanging out with Mom and Dad; we always do. I was sad to leave as I always am, but I knew I would see them both soon. Hopefully in the near future, we can live closer together. An hour and 10 minutes doesn't really sound like that long of a drive, but it is. I miss them being close. I miss being in the rhythm of the family. I feel kind of at sea without them close by. I'm lucky to feel this way about my family, to love them so much. And to be loved so much.