This weekend Susan was again seated in the bleachers watching her son wrestle. Her strategy for sitting on something so unforgivingly uncomfortable is to roll her jacket up and stick it underneath her ass.

Anyway, Susan's little sister and brother in law were in attendance and made the hours sitting on the miserable bleachers go by in a more entertaining manner. Susan likes watching the wrestlers, but after a while it's like how much wrestling can a person watch?

For most of the afternoon Susan's little sister & daughter were sitting in front of her. There were stuff and people all over the gym. At her feet were backpacks, gear and Gatorades. There was nowhere to move them so she just arranged her feet around them.

At one point a man sat to the right of Susan. Seats open, get sat in, get abandoned, and so it goes all afternoon. It's like sitting on a bus. Susan and her family members watched the wrestlers, chatted, took pictures, made each other laugh and passed the day in a congenial way.

After a period of time the man next to Susan asked 'Is that your granddaughter?
Susan considered his question and pointing to her kid said 'No, that's my daughter'
The man countered with a surprised 'That's your daughter?' Then - not stopping - he gestured to Susan's sibling, a mere five years her junior, and added 'I thought she was your daughter.'

At first Susan was gobsmacked, but then she realized he must have zeroed in on her chicken neck and ultimately couldn't blame him for thinking she was her own daughter's granny and her sister's mommy.

Susan had a great Friday.

• It was payday
• The daughter commented that Susan's hair looked good
• The husband surprised her with a spicy tuna roll
• And a neighborhood mom sought out Susan in the high school gymnasium to praise her son

Susan was sitting on the bleachers watching her son's team wrestle when a woman plopped down next to her and asked if she was Sean's mom.
Susan is indeed Sean's mom.
The woman was Diane, and when she opened her mouth the loveliest compliments about Susan's son came gushing out.

Good kid, polite, respectful. The adjectives every mother longs to hear about her kid. Diane told Susan that her son, Leo is a freshman and Susan's son has been mentoring him.

Diane lost her father a year ago September, he was a wrestler and Leo decided he would join the wrestling team as a way to honor his grandfather. Leo hadn't wrestled before and Susan's son has been wonderful with him, really taking the time to make a difference in his ability and confidence, being kind of a big brother in the process. Diane described the positive effect this has had on the whole family.

Susan has no idea what goes on when her son walks out the front door. She is confident that he always behaves in a way that would make her proud, and periodically this is substantiated by another parent.

Last year her son attended a wrestling tournament out of town and unaccompanied by his father. On the final day of the tournament the son pulled a very stupid stunt, got caught, and the punishment was to coach 'the little kids' every week until he graduated high school.
Leo is one of the little kids.

God bless you, Diane for providing Susan with a much appreciated alternative view of her good natured but somewhat passive-aggressive, reserved and minimally communicative teenager.

Susan had to drive all the way to Brooklyn, USA for a decent cup of coffee.

She chose the lowest echelon of small-batch-roasted-in-house coffees offered; brewed. For another dollar she could have had it French pressed, but opted not to.

Susan squeezed herself into a too small space surrounded by people with laptops and caught up with her girlfriend, GP. They discussed all manner of important topics; dogs, personal growth, anxiety, the great chicken massacre and annoying people they know.

The drive home afforded Susan a glittering night time view of Manhattan and complete control over what she listened to on the radio.

Did everybody have a good first day?
Susan did.
She went to bed at 2am and emerged eight hours later fully rested ready to spend the day in her pajamas reading the papers, pouring Bailey's into her coffee, baking biscotti, watching an Odd Couple marathon, getting frustrated by her new laptop and going to the movies.
Susan has resolved to go to the movies more. She thinks it's something she can commit to.