Like Family to Me

March 6, 2008

Nathan has taken to Joe so well. He really identifies with him. I'm so glad! As a single parent you never quite know how your child is going to get along with a new boyfriend (or girlfriend, for that matter).

We were in Lowe's once, and I need to go down one aisle, while Joe needed to look down another aisle. When we asked Nathan which one of us he wanted to go with, he said to Joe, "I'll go with you, 'cuz we're MEN." I'm starting to wonder if maybe he's desperate for male attention because he's around his Granny and me so much!

He gets along well with Joe's mom, Fern, too (as do I). She's such a "mom." Joe, Nathan, and I spent the night at her house once a few weeks ago, and she made Joe sleep on the floor while I slept on the couch. It was no big deal to me, but she declared, "I have to practice what I preach!"

You gotta respect a lady who doesn't bend her rules even for 40-somethings!

Joe had the perfect comeback: "If mom can't get her groove on, ain't NOBODY gettin' their groove on!" Silly.

Fern told me that night, that when Joe moved home from San Diego after retiring from the Navy, she agreed to let him live there, but with her conditions. I asked, "Like what?"

"Do you really want to know?" she countered. Yes! I wanted to know! "He could stay here but he wasn't to bring any of his women over here!" I was laughing out loud! What a telling comment. Wow, he must have been a hound-dog in his day!

I had quite the laugh about that, because she doesn't seem to mind my being over there. Joe said I should feel realllly special, getting to spend the night at his mom's house. He said recently that she had remarked, "That girl must love you an awful lot; I haven't scared her off yet." And I'm like, Huh? Apparently she has "scared off" his girlfriends before, but I can't imagine why. She has her rules, as any good mom should -- so I figure his previous girlfriends just didn't know a good mom when they saw one.

We were at her house watching a movie last weekend, and I was so tired, I laid over on Joe's lap and slept during most of it. He told me a day or so later, "Mom said she felt very complimented the other night, when you feel asleep over there." I guess it made her feel good that I felt comfortable enough to doze off in her home. She and Joe are both like family to me.