In the Absences of Mom

So...my mom's gone out of town for two weeks. That leaves me and dad at home. I'm kinda embarrassed to say that the first thing that I thought of when she left was, "No nagging for two weeks? YES!". As I watched and waved at the car backing out of the driveway, it suddenly hit me: We're not going to have a mom for two weeks. Not only does this mean that I will leave my shoes in the doorway, that I will forget to bring the dishes into the sink, and generally be the natural slob that I am, but it also means that no one is going to cook food for me, no one's gonna answer my 50+ trivial questions a day (I dare you to try to count how many times you yell "MOOOOMMMMMM WHERE'S MY...." or for those who are married, "HONEY, WHERE'S MY SUPERSUIT!?"), and most IMPORTANTLY no one is going to LOVE me like mommy does. This horrible picture of our house looking like a nuclear waste dump site popped into my head...To which I quietly thought to myself, "oh good gracious. We are going to be eating take out and instant noodles for the next two weeks. And the house is going to look like tornado ran through it by the time mom comes home. We.are.so.dead.". It's been 6 days since mom left and I am happy to say that we are doing awesome. Granted me and dad still miss mom like CRAZY. BUT, the house is STILL standing. I have been trying to do everything to not let that horrible nightmare become of reality. I've learned a lot of stuff about myself and dad in the pass couple days: 1. I can cook. Like if I was living on my own, I know how to make enough dishes to survive. In the past six days, we have only gotten take out twice and eaten out once. AND instant noodles have remained off the menu. 2. Mom does a LOT of stuff. She makes cuts fruits and makes slop (our over dramatized version of oatmeal) for breakfast EVERY MORNING. She makes lunch for my dad and I everyday. She cooks dinner, sweeps the floor, does laundry, folds laundry, nags me to do my homework and practice instruments, goes grocery shopping, does the dishes...etc. I kid you not, my mother is Wonderwoman (not being sarcastic). 3. Me and dad both HATE doing dishes. Ha. This is funny. We haven't hit the "eating on a paper towel to avoid washing dishes" stage but we are PRETTY bad. Don't get me wrong I do wash dishes on a regular basis when mom is home...it's just that I hate it. If there was ANY other chore available I'd do it instead. So, if mom was cooking for two people she would be reasonable and use 3 pairs of chopsticks, 2 soup spoons, two serving spoons, two bowls of soul, 4 plates, two or three cups, three pots, one pan, one spatula, two washing bowls, and 3 or 4 tubbleware containers for leftovers. Now if Dad or I was cooking for the same amount of people, never mind plates, we'd eat out of tubbleware. I mean, I hate washing dishes so much that I cooked all of dinner last night with the same fork that I used to eat dinner with afterward (who needs spatulas right?). 4. I'm generally more responsible when mom's not around. This concept is kinda strange. Cause usually when mom's not around, kids are more rowdy. For example, my 5 year old cousin was playing with something that he wasn't supposed to be playing with and I said, "Aaron, mom said your not allowed to play with that". To which he promptly replied, "mom's not here!" and went about his merry ways. I've noticed that I don't leave my shoes in the doorway or forget to do some of the other things that mom usually nags me about. I guess that's just be cause I can't count on mom nagging me to do it. Idk, weird circular reasoning :P 5. Home is not home without mom. It's been a quiet few days. Not lonely, but quiet. There's a quintessential "mom-ness" missing. By "mom-ness" I don't mean that there's no one to cook food or no one to pick up after me...but that there's no one to mom-ly talk with me about my day over lunch or dinner...no one bump into while I'm making cookies (mom usually makes dinner around that time). No one to gullibly believe my ridiculous exaggerations...though Gabriel could sub for this in a pinch (I once accidentally convinced mom that I could swim a mile faster than I could run one). No one to say FOB-ized versions of American slang (Saying "CHILL IT" instead of "calm down" or "chill"). No one to say mommy things like, "I want cold watermelon...but there's no room in the fridge... I KNOW WHAT! Let's put it in the POOL!"...No one to be mom and love me like mom. I miss you mommy.