How was your weekend?

“How was your weekend?”

“Not long enough.”

I have either said or heard this Monday morning dialogue hundreds of times in my life, but it has never rang truer than in these past few months. Train rides, plane flights, and car trips may be nuisances, but it’s always worth the commute to get home and see Mom. Abigail and I arrived back home late Friday night, to Dad offering us almost a dozen different food items immediately after we hugged hello. Mom was napping on the couch, with the faint comfortable hum of “Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives” in the background. She woke up for a quick catch-up about our work weeks, and then it’s upstairs to bed.

Saturday, I think Mom and Dad were the first to rise by more than 5 hours (needless to say, both napped later in the day). Mom and I got a chance to talk wedding for a bit, knocking out a couple of my groom tasks while I am home. And while we watched a couple food network shows, Abigail was putting on a culinary show of her own as was evidenced by the pasta with Bolognese sauce dinner. During our family movie night of “Secretariat”, she put on an encore performance with some delicious chocolate chip cookies and chocolate dipped strawberries. Mom, Dad, and I were full and happy.

Sundays are travel days and are always over before I want them to be. But we made the most of it, Mass in the morning, another hour of wedding talk around lunch, quick pseudo-fashion show as Abigail returned from the store with some “gala-type” outfits for Mom who is excitedly preparing for a charity “Dancing with the Stars” event in Sedalia in a few weeks, and some quality mother-son bonding time over NCAA basketball and searching online for some good magazines to read. Shocker, guess who is the proud new owner of a subscription to the “Food Network” magazine?

And then we arrive back in our cars, back in airport terminals, and back sitting on trains to our homes away from Home. I have to admit, I do look forward to going to work and seeing friends on Mondays. But tomorrow morning, when they ask, “How was your weekend?”, I’ll politely, but sincerely respond, “Not long enough.”

Love and miss you already, Mom. See you in a couple weeks.