The Scales of Justice

We had Bunco on Saturday night so I knew I'd better get a good work-out in before I met up with my long-time buddies. I sandwiched a trip to the YMCA between errands, so I was gone for a good bit of the morning.

About 12:30 I called Jeff with a Kroger question and decided to make sure I had all the things Ali needed, too.

"When are you coming home, Mom?" she asked.

"Soon as I'm done here," I said.

"So, five minutes?"

Probably more. I need to get through check-out and then drive home."

"So, ten minutes?"

"Probably more than that. Why? Do you miss me so very much?"

"Well, yeah," she said. "You have been gone a long time."

The shine on the Kroger tile had nothing on my face as I smiled and my heart soared. She loves me!!! I thought. And then came this: "And, well, I was kind of hoping you'd come home soon because I really would like to have my lunch and I'm not exactly sure how to make it."

My laughter woke up the security guard and I'm sure identified me as a kook. You know how annoying it is to be shopping and have to endure the conversation of your fellow Kroger shoppers? I was annoying and loud about it.

I did, in fact, go home and make her lunch. We had a good weekend. Alison made another cookie creation, this one was supposed to be a house but we gave a wall away to the neighbor girl who had a birthday. So it's more of a tent, but it has a dog and a boy, and Alison did 99 percent of it herself. She even used a paint brush like the Cake Boss crew does all the time.

On Sunday, we convinced Jenna to come over. After a while, the girls decided they wanted to go swim at YMCA. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to entertain them and work off the decadent breakfast Jeff and I had. (Weigh-in Wednesday is going to be ugly.)

Going back to the Y also promised a chance to get to listen, uninterrupted, to new music Jeff had put on my iPod. So it was a win all around.

Kids aren't supposed to be in the Y work-out room so I sent them off to the pool and told them I'd come get them in an hour. Three minutes later, I was two Pistol Annies songs in only to look up to see them dripping next to my ellipitical trainer.

Now, there's a lifeguard on duty poolside, and I can actually see the pool when I look up. But apparently, unless you're 12, you can't swim without having a parent poolside, regardless of whether you are an excellent swimmer or a novice. Both Jen and Alison are fishes. Their presence in the pool would have doubled the number of swimmers. So I can understand how much extra work they would have been. (not)

Anyway, I really wanted to work out, and I hadn't brought my suit. I don't usually flout rules around Alison, but I was trying to get at least 30 minutes in. So I let them try out the treadmill and elliptical trainer even though they're not supposed to be in that room. That bought me 10 minutes.

Then, I told them they could go to the kids play area, knowing good and well that the rule there is you have to be 11 to be on your own.

I called Ali over, looked her in the eye and said, "You can be 11 in there, OK?"

She grinned because she knows that rule, too. "OK!"

Jenna, of course, was listening. "Hey! That's not fair!"

"You can be 11, too," I said.

"OK!" she said.

The little lawbreakers ran off, happy as clams. I had a moment or two of guilt. But I weighed it against what I'll have to face on Wednesday. Don't tell anyone at the Y.