A Milestone For More Than One Reason

October 1st started with Mom, Dad, and I going to Mom's old job for the final time. Now, the daycare center/school where she worked officially closed in August. However, over the past few weeks, she returned periodically to grab stuff from her old job. She brought home books, educational materials, bookshelves, and other things. On this particular day, we went (along with our neighbor, who had a pickup truck) to get another bookcase and a large metal cabinet.

I have never really gotten to see what happens when a place closes for good, the processes that the people have to go through. Mom's old job looked like a shadow of itself, with stuff sprawled all over the floors, boxes everywhere, and masking tape with writing on it letting everyone know who reserved certain items. As we left, we realized that it would really be the last time any of us walk into that building. A new school will occupy the space eventually, but none of us will be involved in that. Well, at least Mom could celebrate her birthday.

My dad went by himself to pick up my sister at around 10:40 or so. Our car has been having problems of sorts (the check engine light keeps coming on despite repairs having been done) and the light came on before we left for Mom's job. Despite my mom's look (everyone knows the look their mother gives them when they want them to do something), I stayed at home. Dad and Samone made it back in the 2:00 p.m. range.

This day was all about my mom. We decided to get some KFC (Mom's favorite fried chicken) along with a cake, ice cream, and some wine. Dad and I left out to go get the stuff (along with some hair care products for Mom and Samone).

Things pretty much went smoothly until we got to our last stop...KFC. The girl who waited on us was, in a word, slow. I don't mean that she was necessarily mentally challenged, but she really did work at a slow speed. We had a coupon for a meal deal and she took it and went to work on the order...without asking if we wanted anything else. We also wanted some Honey BBQ wings (for my sister) and some extra chicken, but she didn't get around to that until after she had nearly finished our 12 piece meal deal. Then, there was an unusual ordeal regarding the Honey BBQ wings. On the back of the set of coupons we had (which came from Sunday's paper), it advertised 18 wings for $7.99. However, when we ordered, Dad and I were told that they didn't have that special deal anymore. As we waited for the girl to finish her order, my Dad brought up the price issue with the assistant manager (at least I think she was the assistant manager). The assistant manager told us that if we had the coupons with that special price on them, she'd honor it. I ran to the car and got them and we got the special price (that seemed kind of shady to me...advertising one price in an ad then not honoring that price unless you had that ad...shady, indeed). After we waited all that time to get our food, we got another setback. The gravy from the mashed potatoes and gravy we ordered spilled in the bottom of the clear plastic bag...which meant that we had to wait another while for our entire order to be repackaged. Eventually, we got the food, double-checked it, and left the restaurant. By the time we left, a sizable line had developed.

Dad and I returned home with food and everything else. I fixed Mom's plate for her while Dad got her drink. Samone, Mom, and I sat in the living room watching another milestone...the 1000th episode of 106 & Park on BET. I cannot believe that this show has been on that long. On Thursday, they showed the very first episode, which aired on September 11, 2000. Compared to that episode from over four years ago, AJ and Free have come a looong way. A show that we joked was a black version of TRL has lasted for 1000 episodes. Not only that, but it's gotten better over time and distinguished itself from most of the TRL comparisons (106 & Park is 30 minutes longer and shows more of each video...take that TRL!).

A little later, our family friend Rhonda came by. All of us sang Happy Birthday to my mom, who blew out the candles on her cake (we didn't put 50 candles on the cake, but instead had number candles that spelled out "50"). We had some delicious yellow cake with chocolate icing, and two types of ice cream (Neapolitan and the limited-edition Black Walnut, a favorite of mom's that she hasn't had in years).

We got Mom a CD ("The Very Best of Rufus featuring Chaka Khan") and a DVD (My Best Friend's Wedding). I tried to find "Fire" by The Ohio Players but to no avail. It might have been hard to find because the song "Fire" is used in the commercials for the film Ladder 49. Regardless, she enjoyed the gifts. She looked for the sister of a former co-worker in My Best Friend's Wedding; the woman was an extra and can only be seen in the widescreen version. And she also enjoyed listening to Rufus and Chaka Khan's jams. May the good Lord bless her.