Yet Another Reason Why I Love My Mom, But Not In A Creepy Oedipal Way

This weekend I helped my brother and sister-in-law move into their new house. I have honestly never had so much fun helping somebody move (except for that time me and my brother were playing Superman with the wheelie-carts down the aisles of the Public Storage warehouse, but that was on a whole other level).

Their old apartment is only three blocks away from their new place, so we took turns transporting their belongings back and forth, rotating between my sister's Jeep, my brother's truck, and his father-in-law's pick-up. On one of these trips my sister spots a cute wooden chair a neighbor had left out on the curb. "Oh man, I should take that!" she says. "I could fix it up for my room. I have to remember it for later." At the apartment, my mom spots my brother's bicycle out on the patio. "I wonder if he wants this?" she asks. None of us know for sure, so my sister says she'll ask him when she drops off the latest haul. My mom stays behind to pack up some more kitchenware.

As we're unloading the Jeep, my brother pulls into the driveway laughing and asks, "Why did I just pass Mom riding a bicycle down the street? And where did she get that chair?"

A few minutes later, my sister-in-law and her sister come into the house laughing and ask, "Why was your mom sitting on a wooden chair on the front lawn and waving at us when we drove by?"

Several trips later, my mom, my sister and I are back at the apartment for the last remaining items and the Jeep is packed to capacity. "Is that it?" I ask. "Looks like it," my sister says. "The only thing left is the dog." "Oh, I don't want to leave him alone," says my mom. "You girls go to the house and I'll stay here with him until someone comes back for us."

So we get back to the house, unload our cargo, and are about to return to the apartment for the last time when my sister looks in the rearview mirror and bursts out laughing. "What?" I ask her, looking behind me. "What's so funny?"

And there, just turning the corner, is my mom, laughing maniacally, and being dragged down the block by the giant, galloping dog on his leash. "I couldn't stand it!" she calls out to us. "He looked so sad!"

I'm laughing so hard I can hardly stand up. Good thing that wooden chair was still there on the front lawn. :)