Mini Me?

Brittany has a blog now too. It’s called Blondie by the Ocean. She put a link on her Facebook page and one of her friends commented, “Your mom is rubbing off on you!”

Really? After years of wondering why we had such opposite interests, (I like being outdoors, she likes being inside. I like walking all over big cities; exploring, she likes lying on the beach) could she be turning into a mini me?

I had to go see for myself!

John and I drove down to Charleston for Labor Day weekend. She asked us to come straight to her office so we could meet “everybody”. And we did! They all came out into the hall to tell us how much they enjoyed working with her. Her boss told us that when Brittany took a vacation day one time the office was “so quiet!” And everyone nodded.

I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to apologize for having a daughter who talks non-stop or say “you’re welcome” for the entertainment.

From there we went downtown to the Gallery Crawl, which was a lot of fun. For me. Just like old times John and Brittany got to a certain point in the evening when they got bored and started playing on their phones together while I was determined to not miss a second of the party.

Brittany had called before we left home to say that although she had a coffee maker she didn’t have any coffee. No problem, we packed coffee. But Saturday morning we also found out she had no mugs or filters. She had left them with a few other things at the condo she recently moved out of. So we made a trip to Starbucks.

While John pressure washed her driveway and fixed a few things around the house I helped her unpack and put away several boxes of things she had been storing at our house. Again like old times I had to keep her focused on the mission. Washing all the linens and towels and then cleaning closets we found places for everything.

That afternoon we went down to City Market because I wanted to buy a couple winter scarves I’d seen the last time we were there. Brittany, who already had a couple from there, kept admiring the new colors. I finally said, “Do you want me to get one and put it away for one of your Christmas presents?” She loved the idea and picked out a teal one. Then she picked up a brown one and said, “I think I’ll get this one for me now though.”

And then borrowed the money from me to buy it.

Nope, no change there either.

That night she had a BBQ for us and another couple. I was touched that she wanted me to show her how to make my potato salad. And that’s when I realized, while we were working together in the kitchen, that all weekend we had been talking back and forth. It wasn’t just her telling me everything. She was asking me questions about decorating and cleaning and what I thought about her future plans.

On the way home, John asked, “So do you think she has become like you?”

I told him I thought she was still very much her own person, but one I definitely wanted to hang out with!