I Love My Mom and Dad
Today my brother and I took mom to lunch. She is the most frugal person we know. We love that about her, but it’s can be a little tricky to take her out to eat and make her happy.
In our family, we are proud of our ability to be independent of our parents, and so we take pride in being able to be the one who foots the bill at the table or at the very least, foots the bill for family. Our father always insisted on being the one who did that no matter how many people were there. It always brought joy to those present.
My father has passed and so this doesn’t happen anymore. My frugal mom (amazing but frugal) is almost the opposite and expects others to foot her bill but she is most certainly not going to pay. This makes us chuckle because she can afford to, she just isn’t going to. (But for some reason when it is just myself and my brother she will insist on paying. It’s darling. I can’t explain why it’s so darling that she wants to pay. ) so to make her happy, because she is so frugal, my brother goes out of his way to find the absolutely least expensive fast food semi healthy place to eat. He will find a Monday special , Fuesday special , etc. he will tell her the best special and show her the deal of the day, and when she hears about how affordable the meal will be, that is when she is happy to go out and eat. We argue about who is going to pay. Lol. She gets very stern about paying (remember she doesn’t like to pay) it just makes us laugh... my brother has figured out my mom. She doesn’t mind eating out if it’s a good deal. Otherwise she complains about fancy food at fancy restaurants and criticizes the meal. She’ll say I’m not paying for that, I can make that at home for less. And she’ll be grumpy about the meal. I tell my brother I’d rather pay for my own meal than let her pay for mine when she is so worried about money. He says he lets her pay and eats, then orders something else and pays for whatever he wants at that time. We laugh, understanding its about letting mom be frugal and letting her think she is paying for our meal instead of cooking one for us etc. etc. we want to pay for it, but if we do she complains that we are wasting too much money. (Very annoying to listen to when you are trying to Make someone happy by treating them to lunch to put a smile on their face) So my brother has ifigured out this frugal lunch plan. What I want to say is that my brother has figured out how to have a happy lunch with my mom. It’s a back and forth thing. She always says, “I’m not as good as your father was” meaning she doesn’t like spending money no matter the cost, treating people generously. . And we just laugh. I tell her she’s the best mom and wife anyone could have had, and that he was lucky to have her. We are lucky-blessed to still have her. We always have fun at these little lunches., no matter who pays.
In our family, we are proud of our ability to be independent of our parents, and so we take pride in being able to be the one who foots the bill at the table or at the very least, foots the bill for family. Our father always insisted on being the one who did that no matter how many people were there. It always brought joy to those present.
My father has passed and so this doesn’t happen anymore. My frugal mom (amazing but frugal) is almost the opposite and expects others to foot her bill but she is most certainly not going to pay. This makes us chuckle because she can afford to, she just isn’t going to. (But for some reason when it is just myself and my brother she will insist on paying. It’s darling. I can’t explain why it’s so darling that she wants to pay. ) so to make her happy, because she is so frugal, my brother goes out of his way to find the absolutely least expensive fast food semi healthy place to eat. He will find a Monday special , Fuesday special , etc. he will tell her the best special and show her the deal of the day, and when she hears about how affordable the meal will be, that is when she is happy to go out and eat. We argue about who is going to pay. Lol. She gets very stern about paying (remember she doesn’t like to pay) it just makes us laugh... my brother has figured out my mom. She doesn’t mind eating out if it’s a good deal. Otherwise she complains about fancy food at fancy restaurants and criticizes the meal. She’ll say I’m not paying for that, I can make that at home for less. And she’ll be grumpy about the meal. I tell my brother I’d rather pay for my own meal than let her pay for mine when she is so worried about money. He says he lets her pay and eats, then orders something else and pays for whatever he wants at that time. We laugh, understanding its about letting mom be frugal and letting her think she is paying for our meal instead of cooking one for us etc. etc. we want to pay for it, but if we do she complains that we are wasting too much money. (Very annoying to listen to when you are trying to Make someone happy by treating them to lunch to put a smile on their face) So my brother has ifigured out this frugal lunch plan. What I want to say is that my brother has figured out how to have a happy lunch with my mom. It’s a back and forth thing. She always says, “I’m not as good as your father was” meaning she doesn’t like spending money no matter the cost, treating people generously. . And we just laugh. I tell her she’s the best mom and wife anyone could have had, and that he was lucky to have her. We are lucky-blessed to still have her. We always have fun at these little lunches., no matter who pays.
56-60, F
