Chris and I met up with my friend visiting from out of town and her mom tonight. As I expected, it ended up being a lot of her mom and I catching up and asking about what the other has been up to since the last time we spoke. Her mom was someone I talked to a lot one on one growing up. Sometimes, her mom would drive me home, and then we’d sit in her car for about an hour just chatting about all kinds of random topics. Then, I used to wish my mom was as cool as her mom. As I got older, I realized that it probably was best that my mom wasn’t “as cool” and instead actually acted like a mom to me instead of like a friend. It was always a sore point with my friend then.

It was good to see her and to see how she’s doing, but in some way, the dinner made me a little sad. She seemed very happy for me and what I’ve done with my life, but I wonder if she ever thinks back to how she parented my friend and her little brother and has any regrets. They still operate more like friends today than like parent-child; even at the end of the meal, my friend told her that she’d let her know how much money she owed her. That was just weird to me.