I was kidnapped last night...

Ok, maybe not EXACTLY kidnapped, but close enough.

Junior calls me on the way home from work last night.

"Whatcha doin'?"
"Just getting home from work, why?"
"I have Cornell (friend's 2-yo) and we're going to Pizza Hut for dinner, wanted to know if you wanted to come hang out."

*sniff* Me? hang out with my "teenage" adult daughter on a Friday? awww.

"I suppose. I'll be there in a bit." (Have to play it cool, yannow.)

So we sit there and talk about what she's been up to (because of course, it's the summer of her graduation and she's of age so I barely see her anymore.) We talk of her friends who are leaving for the service, what she wants to do, and play with the baby - who is being quite good.

"Are you going to the fireworks tonight?"

Ugh. I'd forgotten. Lakefest. Street fair, fireworks, PEOPLE. I am such a hermit.

"Wasn't planning on it."

"Oh come on, you can walk around with me and Cornell and we'll see the fireworks. You need to get out more."

*sigh*

So I man up and we head to the lakefest. We walk around, look at the vendors, talk to a bunch of friends of hers - heh, because I have none in this town - and just chit-chat. I have lived here 4 years now; this is the first time I have made it to the Lakefest. I'm doing ok (thanks 'zac!) and I'm not even bitching about it. We're looking at the stand with the wooden decorations for the holidays, and she tells me she can't wait 'til she has a house of her own so she can decorate it.

"How are you going to decorate it?"

*laughs* "Just like you. Doesn't that suck? I want my house to be just like yours."

I find this humorous. She has tried to be so opposite me, as we all do with our parents. She has told me before she hates that she wants to be like me. She always laughs; I know it isn't true.

So we wander down by the lakeside and are hanging out when I see it.

The cruise-in.

Oh.
My.
God.

Chevy Nova 454 with Edelbrock air cleaner.
1966 Chevelle SS with a 396 and 4 on the floor.
67' Charger in the most beautiful deep midnight blue I've ever seen.
'70 Chevelle with dual exhaust in the deepest forest green.

So gorgeous, gleaming in the twilight, just sitting there waiting for me to come over and drool all over them.

I am in heaven.

She tolerates it. Actually, she more than tolerates it. She loves American Muscle almost as much as I, but for different reasons. She thinks they look cool. I KNOW they look cool, but I've driven some of these power machines and have a lot of great cruising memories from way back when.

*sigh*

We come to the end of the cars, and the baby needs something to drink and we need a restroom break. So we head up to do our thing and meet up with a bunch of her friends.

After that, we go back to the lakeside for the fireworks. I'm kinda wantin' to head home. She's talking with all her friends, I'm kinda standin' there with my proverbial dick in my hands because I'm the oldest in the really young group, and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed standing in the midst of these thousands of people.

She comes over and stands by me as the show begins. They start playing the Beatles, Elvis, Bob Seger... Old rock and roll. People are dancing, she's singing along. I'm laughing at her and tell her she used to hate when I played this music when she was little. She laughs back and tells me she loves it, and I'm a "cool mom." It was a good moment in time.

The fireworks finale... stellar. There was this one that went up and exploded into this huge ball of white and blue and it came down and looked so close you could reach out and touch it. The final shots were 6 or 8 of them that were great bursts that kept exploding as they came down in a trail of white shimmering glow that seemed to hang for minutes before they finally died out. I haven't seen a display that good in years.

We start walking back to the cars... she's going out with friends, I'm taking my old, tired ass home to - well, don't know what. Finals are done, my new classes haven't started yet, and I am a hermit. lol.

So I make it home to find a letter from a Captain hero in the mailbox, complete with a 4 page letter and some really cool pictures. Thank Captain Jonathon - you're the man! I find an email in my inbox from a soldier I haven't heard from in over a month... he misses me. Pair it up with a phone call I got earlier that afternoon from an old friend who is now single and wants to come to town to see me (shock - totally unexpected!) and it was a good day made better by a cool evening spent with my oldest daughter. Who, it appears, no longer hates me with a consuming passion, but actually kinda likes me. Heh.

So after a couple weeks of non-blogging, I find the urge again. And of course now I have no time because I'm off to wait on rich, boat people. Yay. And I've already been warned that I will be waitressing and not bartending. woo. hoo.

*giggle*

Life is good... I'll take a kidnapping like that again anytime...