Greetings! Thank you for joining me this Saturday, please come in.

This week, after dropping mom off at the airport for her flight to Japan on Tuesday, I became alone for an extended period of time for the first time in 5 years. This will also be the first Christmas I’ll be spending by myself since 2010. I feel like I’m experiencing adulthood for the first time despite I have spent the last 6 years paying bills and carrying a mortgage.

So far, mom has used our only open channel of communication to ask me to do stuff. There’s been no greetings, no how are you, just “do this for me asap” and “why aren’t you answering my calls?”

Meanwhile, experiencing quietness in the house for the first time in years, I began to experience clarity. For the first time in months, my mind, thoughts and attention didn’t feel scattered and honestly, I think I’m finally getting a decent night of sleep.

And there I thought I was either going crazy or suffering from some form of ADHD because I felt irritated and jittery all the time. It turned out to be the bombardment of noises because mom would have YouTube playing on her tablet and phone simultaneously 24/7 at top volume. I doubt anyone could’ve stayed sane in that scenario.

Yesterday was the first time I left the house after dropping mom off at the airport and I left because I had a counseling appointment with my dietitian in the morning and a Christmas party at work. Honestly, I thought I’ll be out of the house more but after mom left, I no longer felt I had the need to get out of the house.

The Christmas party at work was fun. We had a memorable gift exchange in which we had to evacuate the building due to some kind of gas leak and had to do our gift exchange across the street at the mall. I got the softest blanket ever and I love it.

We then walked to a nearby restaurant where I had a delicious plate of Wagyu Beef stroganoff. I later sent mom the photo of the food and mused, “Here’s to making up for not having Wagyu Beef in Japan.” There was no reply, instead, it was followed by a message hours later to have me do something for her.

After lunch, I had to contemplate on where I should go for the next 3 hours as I wait for the next event on my agenda – to see the Christmas light show Luminaria. I ended up heading to the Asian grocery store first to get myself some ramen noodles, not the instant kind but the kind that’s served in Japan. Then I headed for the outlet mall, located across the interstate from where the light show will take place. It was there I got to see the tallest Christmas in the state of Utah – over 80 feet tall.

After that, I decided to hop back into the car and drive across the street for a quick cup of cocoa before heading to see the show. I woke up at 6:30 AM to work an hour before heading to see the dietitian so I’d be sure to get my 40 hours in for the week, and by 4 PM, I was feeling a bit tired. At the coffeehouse, I spent the time savoring a large cup of hot cocoa, catch up on blogs, and read a few pages of a book I started a few nights ago.

At 5 PM, as the sun was setting, I set out for the 10-minute drive to Luminaria. I had wanted to see Luminaria last year when I heard it’s one of those things that one must experience at least once in a lifetime. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get tickets and, well, even if I could, would mom really let me drive 50 miles to see a light show? I highly doubt she would join me since she sniffed and said, “It’s all the same,” when I told her I’m going this year.

I was lucky this year to had snagged the last ticket for the 5:30 PM slot on the 15th and after spending over 90 minutes walking in the near freezing temperatures, yes, this is a once-in-a-lifetime-experience.

#weekendcoffeeshare is hosted by Natalie of Natalie the Explorer. I appreciate you stopping by. Until next we chat. 🙂