Good and Plenty

I told my mother that for this trip to Iceland, she only gets a personal item. No carry-on, just the personal item. Seriously, I'm not trying to be difficult but there is NO way that I am paying $40 for a carry-on. My mother's cheap too, so I know that deep down, she gets it.

Historically, she's been known to bring stuff she doesn't need, and has then been forced to carry it around with her the whole trip (making her miserable, and by proximity, me). Because of this, I always feel compelled to examine her bag on the way out the door like I do for my children on their way to an overnight.

Needless to say, when my mom sent me this picture with a note reading "my clothes are ready" - I was very proud. She did this all on her own!

Then - mom being mom - she reminded me why I need to check and approve her bags.

"Amy...", she said after stopping over at my house to tell me something very important, "...I read that Iceland is VERY expensive." I'm listening, but I am also busy so I acknowledge with a simple "ummhmmm, I saw that."

Empowered by the fact that I did indeed recognize the truth in her statement, she follows-up with "well I thought I would bring food, so that we could save some money on breakfast and lunch. Just some things so that we don't get hungry."

I do see the logic in this, but again, we have to fit everything in a 13X17X10 inch bag, so I'm thinking, maybe its not so worth the space, even if it does replace some meals.

I ask, "Do you have extra space? I don't think I'm going to have that much space."

She continues, "Well, we need to eat so I got us some breakfast bars, Little Debbies oatmeal cookies, and Good & Plenty."

That gives me pause. "So, you have to pack everything you need for a seven-day trip, in essentially a pocketbook, and you decided that for 'sustenance' we should use some of that VERY limited space on 'Good & Plenty?'"

Honestly, I'm not asking her in order to be mean, I'm actually interested in what made her land on Good & Plenty as a must have.

Indignantly, she responds "well...I brought Twizzlers too, Amy."

Yes, that makes it better. Twizzlers are also know as an important health food packed full of protein and vitamins.

She seems disappointed that I wasn't as pleased with her plan as she expected.

EPILOGUE:

Two days later, we get out of the car at the airport. She grabs her bag and realizes that it might be slightly too big.

Sheepishly she looks at me and says "maybe I don't need the Good and Plenty."

"Maybe ma, I think you might be able to get by without them"