Moom, can you walk 12 blocks?

decayIf I ever get to the point where my kids have to ask me a question like that, just shoot me, okay? It wasn’t me and it wasn’t either of my kids in this case. It was a rather obnoxious woman staying at our hotel in San Fran who was constantly bragging about her son, whom* she was visiting out there, and he apparently lived six blocks away from the hotel, hence she needed to be able to walk 12 blocks.

I am sorry, but I can’t stand when people constantly brag about their kids. I should be used to it, since I brought my kids up on the Planet Ann Arbor, where the kid-braggarts are legendary. But I am not. I mean, I am proud of my kids and I will post when they do something significant. You know, like graduate from college or whatever. Mostly I am proud of them not because of whatever wonderful things they have done but because they have somehow, in spite of my intervention, grown up to be thoughtful, open minded, adult human beings.

Anyway, this woman seemed to incite other parents to rise to the occasion and brag about their *own* kids and (I won’t lie) that made me feel a bit panicky like I wanted to start bragging about my kids but I am not the kind of person who can easily get a word in edgewise in mommy one-ups-man-ship conversations like that, so I just retreated back into Facebook or whatever. Fortunately, she and most of the other guests didn’t roll into the parlor for breakfast until well after I did, since being, well, *me*, I had to *force* myself to stay in bed until 6 AM out there on the left coast. So, by the time she made her grand entrance, I had been up on the roof and back to the room a bazillion times and was getting ready to go out for a walk somewhere in the Mission District with the GG. Vertigo-inducing death march on the hill between two yarn stores anyone?

I don’t know what kind of activities that kid had planned for his moom. I’m sure they had a good time and I think he played the puano in the parlor one afternoon and reduced a few people to tears. I wasn’t there and I know I am being snarky. I bet she didn’t often have to walk more than 12 blocks though. Me? Even before the trip, when people would ask me what I wanted to do in San Francisco, my answer was something along the lines of “go with the flow” and “walk”. I am so scheduled all of the time. Work and rocket trips to the Great White North. I wanted somebody else to make most of the decisions and I didn’t really want to have a long, complex schedule of things to see and do. I love San Francisco and just being out there seeing something different is enough for me. And so we walked. All over the place. Yes, we also took Maggie and the BART and we biked across the Golden Gate (very fun), but mostly there was a lot of walking. It was enough walking to make me feel that sort of nice, warm, fuzzy kind of tired at the end of the day. I do bet that the daughter we were visiting out there had to spend a few days recovering from herding cats all weekend.

Today’s walking here on the Planet Ann Arbor? Lemme see. My usual 45 minutes around the neighborhood at 0-dark-30. Down to the Farmer’s Market and back with Mouse mid-morning. Plum Market mid-afternoon. (Grocery shop much? Yup.) I do not know how many miles and I don’t care. It was enough mileage that I am feeling that sort of nice, warm, fuzzy kind of tired now that it’s not too far from the end of the day.

*Hey, grammar freaks: have I used “whom” correctly here or is it “who”?

3 Responses to “Moom, can you walk 12 blocks?”

  1. Margaret Says:

    Yes, you are fine. She was visiting HIM, thus he is the direct object–and whom is correct. I love to walk and hate bragging moms, but sometimes karma comes around to bite them in the YOU-KNOW-WHERE. I am superstitious about bragging because I’m afraid it will cause problems with my children. My mother, their grandmother, is an embarrassing braggart though. I’m wondering if anyone in my town has NOT seen photos of Ashley in Senegal. 🙂

  2. Tonya Says:

    My son keeps me humble. There are aspects about him that I am proud of, like doing well in the Navy and the time he recently made the sweetest post on FB about “talking to his mom on Skype brightening his day” and I’m all aglow…then he’ll post something REALLY STUPID, like about chasing women and “keeping them in the dark”, et. al. Lots of it is just “talk” and/or his weird sense of humor (or just getting a kick out of getting my dander up). But jeeze. So no, I don’t brag on him a lot, but I adore him anyway. I had a friend who bragged up her son from dawn to dusk 24/7 and like Margaret said, it really DID eventually bite her in the ass (I will SAY “ass”!) He was the Apple Of Her Eye and yet was such a destructive BRAT growing up (and a friend of my son’s by association when they were young). Now a mid-20s dead-beat dad, no goals, still living at home. It’s true that people who brag on their kids likely will end up eating some crow. As for walking? I know I’d enjoy it a lot more if we weren’t on SUCH a busy road (almost a highway). But my favorite thing in the whole wide world is a beach walk.

  3. Tonya Says:

    P.S. Yes! “Whom” is correct! (I’m a leeeetle bit of a grammar nazi!)