Uh-Oh, spagehetti...

IMG_0858, originally uploaded by TH.Photography.

Uh-oh, spaghetti-o: You know how it goes. Tonight I was surprised. Tonight is the night that my wonderful, handsome son was escorting a pretty young lady to her homecoming. I helped him shop for his outfit and because that's not easy when you're a 6'3" big guy with size 16 feet, I told him to tell her what color HE was wearing and to follow suit. :) After making all of our final choices we decided that he could wear Dad's dress shoes, socks and belt-but we picked out a new tie. There he was in the dressing room at Kohls fitted nicely. Finally. Jokingly answering his muse I told him I was so far from crying due to the stinky baseball cap glued to his head. Later that week as we passed the school I started singing (and signing while driving, is that wrong?) "It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A." I see you doing it too. My all knowing teenager chided me saying that they don't play that song at dances anymore. So, I made him a friendly bet and kindly told him that I expected a phone call when the Village People showed up, and that I would be happy to bring him home early so he didn't have to listen to that old stuff! I doubt my phone will be ringing but not because he's not wailing his arms through the air in common motion.
This afternoon we were across town at Whole Foods for lunch. We had headed out of the parking lot as he remembers he wanted to pick up some flowers. Now, we'd already covered that too; she said they didn't give corsages for Homecoming...apparently he and I received different messages here. Back into the store we go. She got a beautiful pink/peach bouquet of fresh cut flowers and I got a bag of dried up but spicy scented pine cones. Sigh.
We came home and Mitchel did his thing: shower, relax, panic when at 6:20 the electricity went out (I only thought about praying it stayed off and canceled homecoming for about 2 1/2 seconds. Good job, Mom.), got dressed, fully dressed some would say: "Who cares what they're wearing From Main Street, to Saville Row, It's what you wear from ear to ear And not from head to toe..."
No. When I called home this morning and asked my husband, "Did you figure out if you have a belt for him that will work?" The answer SHOULD have been "NO." But it wasn't. There he stood dressed in black from head to toe (with a smile) except for that big brown belt circling his waist. Problem. Sensing just one of my not so endearing glances, Troy heads upstairs and comes down with a handful of black belts. Much better. Doing whatever it took to make one fit occupied him to the kitchen for a few minutes which left M and I with an untied tie. What do we do? Youtube, of course. Neither one of us could follow "Billy's" instructions but we had a blast laughing at the rolling comments of, "Thanks Dude, homecoming is tonight and...." and, "Me too, Dude. Thanks." Ha-ha! I told Mitchel to ask around to see how many got Billy's help tying their ties tonight. For us,Dad saved the night again.

The one unwelcome thing autumn drags with its onset is the dark early evenings. I knew, due to both of their sports schedules for the day, that it would be dark at the set meeting time leaving me unable to get any photos outdoors, so I tucked my camera safely in its bag. Denial? Perhaps. I tried to keep my son loose and took a couple fun shots with my phone, which are horrible, but just in case I want them sometime in the future they're there. I'm sure her parents have a camera handy and no photographic expectations of themselves. If all goes well tonight, I'm hoping they'll share.
Headed across the front sidewalk I watched as my son (wait, have I ever seen him in a tie before? I don't think so!) head out for his first homecoming. Sad? Not really, I am proud of the young man he is and I have no reason not to trust him. He's going to have a blast and he's in good company. His baseball buddies were excited to have him coming and he was looking forward to seeing all of them on something other than dirt.
I could stop here, but then you wouldn't be privy to my surprise. As soon as we shut the door I had to fix my little guy some Spaghetti-Os. Right there on my counter as I reached for the can opener sat my surprise. Baby Mitchel framed around "I love Daddy" scribbles. And then it hit me, what happened to that little boy in that frame? How could it be the same ten toes and ten fingers, the very same Dapper Dan smile and perfect dimple who just left my house? How?
Uh-oh, I need to get some tissues.
Again.

P.S. It's 10:33pm. He'll be home soon! ;)