Momma Cheese

(Note: I have not gotten permission to post pictures of Cheese's mom yet, so here are a few without her actual face).
Cooling our feet in a pond after miles of walking.

The Bean.

Momma Megan and Me

Yeah, so, I pretty much haven’t gotten out of bed all day today (Sunday).

I think on top of an uber-busy weekend, the 12-miler I squeaked out (after dropping Momma Cheese off at the airport this morning) was just a little more than my little tired body could handle.

As for the weekend, it was great. After picking up Momma Cheese on Friday, we spent the day downtown, eating at Lou Mitchell’s, checking out the Sears Tower and Grant Park, and going on a boat tour. We rounded out the day with dinner with my sister and her husband.

Saturday brought a ride on the “El,” breakfast at Ann Sathers on Belmont, a walk through Wrigleyville, Boy’s Town, South Lakeview, and then a stop to get our nails done. We met my mom for dinner at Rosebud on Taylor, and the saw “Jersey Boys” downtown.

My family was great, and I think Momma Cheese really had a good time. It is always interesting to me to see my city through the eyes of a visitor – I have no shame when it comes to doing the tourist things, and taking a ton of pictures along with it. It was also, I think, a big culture shock to both of us – again, me seeing the city through her eyes, and her seeing the city through mine.

For example, the constant sounds of sirens (police, fire, ambulance) were shocking to her. At one point, as an ambulance sped past us, she looked over at me in the car and asked, “You don’t even notice it, do you?” And I responded, “Notice what?” And then I swerved to avoid hitting a bus while she white-knucked the dash.

Then on the El, after the doors opened and a large Indian family, two black kids and some very elderly Chinese people entered, she whispered, “Chicago’s pretty diverse, huh?” Then finally, during breakfast in Boys Town, she said, “So you say you and Cheese ate here after a race? Huh. It surprises me that he would be okay with ‘this’.”

She was even more surprised when I told her how many phone numbers he managed to score there that morning. He’s got the charm, doncha know?

I have a lot of favorite parts during the weekend, but one of the best was when she asked, “So how many kids are you going to have?” This was asked 45 minutes after picking her up from airport.

And then she told LOTS and LOTS of Cheese-as-a-kid-and-teen stories.

Some sink-your-teeth-in-juicy ones.

LOVE.HER.

Honestly, she is probably one of the sweetest woman you would ever meet - she is the perfect blend of genuine goodness and sarcastic wit, complete with a good old Kansas drawl.

And I seriously hope that I didn’t come across as bitching about having a houseguest. If I did, it certainly wasn’t my intention – I was really looking forward to Momma Cheese coming to see how the big city folk do it (ha), and I think I just got a little stressed, what with all the fridge’s falling apart (by the way, it was fixed, so turkey-slices-and-Red-Bull-disaster averted-….say it with me – “PHEW!”).

Oh, and if you ever thought I embellished my behaviors at their house over Christmas, Momma Cheese made THREE mentions of how much I ate at that time. In fact, her words were, “I STILL can’t believe how much food she got into her mouth.”

It’s been seven months.

Ah, I guess I leave a pretty memorable impression.

(And yes – there was mention of the fact that I single-handedly ate ¾ of a pie. The only thing that prevented me from finishing it off was the coma I then fell into shortly after Piece #6).

Speaking of sweets, there’s an Ann Sather’s cinnamon roll in the fridge that’s got DINNER written all over it.