two dysfunctional families (lyn)

Mary (from Chicago) is back in town.  She is such an easy, comfortable friend.

Last night we saw a play downtown (the one I never made it to last week) called Family Week.  It started with promise but ended badly.  The mother is cold and heartbroken (her 16 year old son was senselessly murdered). She has been in some kind of rehabilitation place for the past year, and her self-absorbed family has come to visit.  It is a downer of a play.  Nothing good or happy happens. 

My cold was overpowering me, so it was an early night.

Came home and took Nyquil PM (for what will be the last time).  Wake up feeling drugged.  Still have a sore throat, watery eyes, runny nose, and stuffed head.  All the weight I’ve shed over the past eight months now feels like it’s sitting on my shoulders.

Do a bit of enumerating this morning and early afternoon, and then come home to sleep.  I am not feeling well, but I really want to spend time with Mary.  We decide on dinner and a movie.

Up until dinner, I’ve eaten horribly:  tea, tea, and more tea (that part is ok), A VitaMuffin, a small bag of WW multi-grain chips, and one serving (3 pieces) of Godiva chocolates.  I pack a 6-point dessert of popcorn and junior mints for the movies. The popcorn, which is set to expire in May (that would be now) looks like it expired a year ago May.  Pale yellow except where it’s burnt. 

I thought tonight would be the night I’d finally have a burger and fries, but since I don’t feel great, I don’t want to waste my dream dinner on a night where I can’t fully appreciate it.  We settle on Cinema Cafe, a small restaurant near the theater.  I have a salad, very-rare tuna, grilled vegetables, and half my friend’s mashed potatoes.  I eat this way consciously, as I’d rather have ordered the kobe beef sliders with fries; my fit friend eats this way naturally.  I eat every morsel on my plate; Mary has leftovers.  I eat my popcorn-junior-mint concoction at the movies; Mary eats nothing.  I go on my computer each morning; Mary works out.  But today I am slightly under 120 pounds so I am guilt-free.

We see City Island, a sweet comedy about another family.  But in this one, everyone is kind and clueless, even if they hide a myriad of secrets from each other.   We leave feeling good. 

Next week I have tickets with a friend to see a play (part of a subscription series) about a mommy-dearest type character.  I wonder what it says about this country that so much of art is about dysfunction?