Pamper Me!

We love holidays of all sorts in our family (Flag Day is a favorite), but we agree they have one drawback--they don't last long enough. Which is why we decided a few years ago to make honoring holidays like birthdays, Mother's Day and Father's Day into entire weekends devoted to the appreciation of the designated family member.

This weekend, it's my turn! I get to call the shots, play Mistress, issue decrees left and right.

My first decree is that we'll go to three soccer games on Saturday. Actually, this is something I love to do. Sure, I use the term "soccer mom" in my bios because I know it will raise eyebrows. Erotica writers are supposed to be 25 year old prostitutes who save their maternal instincts for clients with certain fetishes. But I really am a soccer mom in the sense that I love to watch my kids play and I sign up for snack duty and all that stuff. Having loathed team sports myself as a child, I never thought it would happen to me, but there you go!

Later around dinner time, we'll open a bottle of Cotes du Rhone that is supposed to go well with pizza--namely, Chicago style deep dish spinach pizza from our neighborhood pizzeria, Zachary's, a local institution. Dessert is the yin-yang cookies I made for a school fundraiser yesterday, and I will insist everyone tell me how delicious they are.

Sunday I'll really start cracking the whip. Herr Dr. DGS, who is back from three weeks of business travel, will be busy paying homage to the mother of his children by scanning in some Viva Magazine pictorials and an incriminating college photo of me dressed as a gay hustler (you'll see why in a few weeks!) Then I plan to force the family to take a stroll in the Rockridge neighborhood, probably a route from one of my architecture walking tour guides. Afterward I'll absolutely insist--and they can moan and complain all they want--that we all have an ice cream cone from Ici, a boutique ice-creamery that makes its own fabulous cones that are sealed with a generous dollop of Belgian chocolate at the bottom. This means the last bites of your treat are melted ice cream mixed with a hidden piece of chocolate candy. It's a brilliant idea and a great way to celebrate the wonder of me. Otherwise, I'm staying away from restaurants, which are just nasty on Mother's Day. Our dinner will be leftover pizza. And I'm not doing the dishes!

I hope your Mother's Day is happy, too!