Saturday was a tournament in Pocatello. It went pretty well. I was there in time to see some of the kids matches. My favorite was when one boy got put in a pin and rather than trying to escape he just laid there. I was worried maybe he was hurt but then he crossed his feet - he had just decided he wouldn't be able to get out and relaxed waiting for time to run out. I only had one girl in my weight class and she wasn't very experienced, so my matches went quickly.

After the tournament I headed off to Rexburg to see my old roommate Allison and to see Kyle and his wife. Allison and I did a little visiting and then we joined up with Kyle and Kelly at a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner. Dinner was good and we enjoyed visiting. After eating we parted ways and Allison and I returned to her house. Eventually we picked a game and played speed scrabble. That turned into moderately fast scrabble as we both got distracted by trying to spell certain words and didn't want to dismantle words we thought were cool to adapt to new letters. Overall it was a typical Allison/Laena visit. We reminisced about the slightly eccentric things we did as roommates and enjoyed doing nothing together as much as if we were doing something exciting. Ryan mentioned awhile ago how weird it is that you can talk forever with someone you see everyday but when you have been apart from someone awhile you have trouble finding something to say. That is a condition that doesn't really plaque Allison and I. There are plenty of pauses, but they aren't awkward. I suppose when two rather random people get together there is always something to say, it just doesn't have anything to do with... anything.
Anywho, I had a good time visiting with them and had a hard time leaving to come back to Utah. I got started later than I intended to, no surprise. I always leave later than I plan. On the drive back I stopped for gas and a little wake up juice and picked myself up a winter hat and the most wonderful idea ever - fleece pants. I can't believe I didn't already have any of those. It led to another of those - wait, I'm an adult - moments after thinking I should have mom make me some. After a few minutes the thoughts started connecting and I realized, hold on - I've made pajama pants before (it was a long time ago and they weren't very well made, and they were for girls camp, but still, I've made them). I can go to the store and buy fabric just as well as mom can. And I have a sewing machine. All together I think that means I could make them myself rather than giving mom another project.
There are still lots of things I would like to be able to defer to mom. Like hemming the scrub pants I bought that are 4 1/2 inches too long (regular length were too short, but tall are definitely too long). I finally finished one pair, but I have 3 more to go and don't have much motivation to actually finish them. I'm sure if I were at home and had mom to hem the pants I would have made some fuss about how they needed to be done NOW, and they'd be done already. I'm okay with using safety pins until I feel like being productive. And when I was sick the other week I definitely wanted mom around to grab things I was craving and cook when I didn't feel like getting off the couch but needed to eat. Mom always wondered if we thought of her as a waitress, housekeeper, chauffeur, and a dozen other roles I'm sure (seamstress for one). I don't want any of those things now (although I'd take a massage therapist who is willing to dust). But sometimes I do want Mom around to do things I would be perfectly capable of myself. Like making taco salad or waffles. The sewing thing I am only slightly capable of. There are still some things that are just better when mom does it. Just like there are some things that are best when Oma makes it, and things that are best at Grandma's. overall, most of the time we probably just plain took advantage of mom - but on occasion, it was just deferring to the professional without the gratitude such an expert would deserve. It leaves me wondering how she did everything.