Time with Sam Was a Week-long Treat

It feels excellent to be back in the cafe after a week away. With Donna’s strong leadership, no one is looking to me to find out what to do next, she has all of our cafe staff understanding what their jobs are, and in my absence, everything flowed smoothly. That’s a nice change from the last time I went away, and all hell broke loose.

I am still thinking about how nice it was to have a whole week to spend in England with Sam, my son who lives two hours away and whom I have always felt was kind of hard to get to know. After a certain age, kids become adults and live their own lives, separate and often far way from parents. I know that in my own case, growing up and moving out and far away from my parents and sisters was good for me, but I lost that easy familiarity that comes with being nearby, as I have with my daughter Kate, who lives at my house. There have been more times than I can count when I wished that I lived in the same town as my parents, seeing them every six months just isn’t enough.

So this was a real treat…there was time to ask questions, share laughs, and show Sam the world that I’ve grown accustomed to. It’s the world where there is an itinerary for every day, tour guides are eager to lead you, and where we are treated well because we offer exposure far and wide to the people who are hosting us. Once when we were at the Old Trafford Stadium, the guy at the desk didn’t know who we were, and gasp, asked us to pay the 28 pounds to get the tour.

It only took a little bit of asking for us to get his supervisor over, who waved us in, and once again showed that the press still has clout and people in the know want to let us into wherever we want to go. No need to fork over the pounds if you’re press, I told him, and I thanked my lucky stars that this is my lot in life.