Welcome to Durham Mom!

When my Mom signed on the dotted line to move to Croasdaile I had a plan. A plan for her to meet as many nice people as soon as she could. Moving when you are older than 35 is hard for anyone. How will I make friends? Where will I shop? Will I like it there?

Mom moved to a place that I knew was populated with so many nice people. So I called on one of those people I knew from Church, Carol Walker and asked her if she would help me introduce my Mom around. She enthusiastically agreed to. We met in the summer to strategize and Carol generously offered to host a luncheon at her house and invite women she thought my mother would like. With such a generous offer I said I would make the food.

Today was the day! I had made a shrimp, artichoke and broccoli salad, a mushroom bread pudding, arugula and caramelized pear salad and sea salt brownies. Carol made her delicious fruit salad and all the drinks. I arrived at Carol’s at 10:00 and her whole house was set up ready for an influx of women, except for one thing.

Months ago Carol had contracted with someone to recover her cushions on her sun room furniture. They were supposed to be ready weeks ago. Many calls transpired between Carol and the seamstress, with the date and the time of this party being the deadline. The cushions finally arrived half an hour after the guests did and mere minutes before people were going to need to go sit on them to enjoy their lunch. I know that gave Carol a lot of extra heart burn.

Thankfully it in no way impeded the enjoyment my mother had meeting so many darling people. The good news about people in retirement communities is that a Wednesday luncheon is the highlight of your day so everyone came on time, ate heartily, asked for recipes, were as friendly as they could be, made plans to have dinner with my mother and stayed just the right amount of time.

After most people had gone, Carol, my mother, Ginger Smith and I all sat in Carol’s living room and rehashed the party. Ginger lives in an apartment on my mother’s hall and she was able to answer lots of my mother’s questions about living there.

It was a delightful day and I hope a good beginning for my Mother. I am eternally grateful to Carol for all she did to host such a wonderful party. It was exceedingly generous and means the world to me.