Sunday, May 23. Hot Words Over Crawfish Cakes. No Grass Cutting. Breakfast with MA at Mattina Bella got off on the wrong foot. We are lucky most of the time there, arriving just before a big crowd. Today, the mob beat us, and we had to wait fifteen minutes for a table. So what did we expect in a place this popular? It had to happen sooner or later.
The breakfast was good, though. Mary Ann dug into her usual Country Boy omelette--all the meats in the house rolled into a pillow of eggs. I don't know why she eats that--with a big bowl of grits, yet--when she's trying to lose weight. (Although she has lost quite a few pounds.) I tried the new crawfish cakes with poached eggs and hollandaise; those were Brennan's quality, including the sauce, which they make extraordinarily well here.
During the brunch a political matter came up. I don't even remember what it was. We were on opposite sides, of course. It escalated all the way home. Once we were there, it escalated into a genuine shouting match--the loudest one I think we've ever had. This sounds much worse than it actually was. We are two strong, dramatic talkers (Mary Ann was a radio talk show host for years) with dramatically opposing views that will never be changed by any amount of discussion. It's a wonder explosions like this don't happen more often. I guess down deep our marriage is more important than politics. But if we could air this kind of stuff on the radio without killing one another, it would be very compelling listening.
Regardless of all that, it cast a pall over the day, one further darkened by a rainstorm. It wrecked my plans to cut the grass, which wouldn't have been a big deal except that MA was already leaning on me to get it done--what with the Graduation Festival Big Party next weekend.
There was nothing for me but to lock myself up in my office and get a head start on the week's work, so I can do the grass tomorrow. If it doesn't get done, there will be hell to pay, and hell has been sending out more bills than usual lately. I didn't even eat anything but random snacks pried loose from the refrigerator.
Well into the evening, Mary Ann entered my cave, came up behind me, and gave me a hug. She said that we have raised two wonderful kids, and if we did that things couldn't be all that bad. And that she really did love me. My feelings coincide with hers.
