My parents visit is going really well. Because Kim and I have been ill, we haven't had the energy to fret about little things. Kim always says how mellow their visit in October, 2001 was. I left for Austria to go to that conference -- renting a car in Venice and driving there, after a fourteen-hour flight and news about the anthrax situation that grew worse with each news report -- and Kim was too stressed to do anything other than let my parents fend for themselves.

Being left to their own devices actually suits them better than lots of attention. They like just hanging out in our house, sitting at the kitchen table, reading and talking. Going back to their place in December made me remember how much time we used to spend at the kitchen table doing little of consequence and enjoying ourselves for precisely that reason.

I always want to be the tour guide for our visitors to Tucson. And Kim is fixated on being a good host to all of our guests. But sometimes it's better to just let go.

As kdotdammit noted in her entry of a few hours ago, we had a good day despite her misery and my semi-misery. Aside from scoring on the succulent front, we delighted in the succulent food of Café Terra Cotta.

Café Terra Cotta has special associations for us, because we discovered it on our first visit to Tucson in 1993 and were blown away by how good it was without being pretentious. It's never been quite as sublime as it was on that first night, but is always good enough to make you feel really good. And it's new location is big enough that you don't feel like the staff are scrutinizing your every move.

I'm extremely grateful to have had the chance to spend my parents thirty-eighth wedding anniversary at Terra Cotta tonight. The food was super, the vibe was mellow, and having such a "normal" family interaction after the multiple stresses of their last visit was, to borrow shamelessly from the Master Card advertising campaign, priceless.

Tags: everyday, family, food
Mode: sincere
Muse: Drygioni - Super Furry Animals - Mwng