I think it had probably been a week since I last saw my parents, and I was grateful we decided to go to dinner tonight.

It was a normal old meal. The Quarters. Dad and his hot links sandwich. Mom and her Jack’s Special sandwich. Raspberry Tea to wash it down. And a necessary side of potato salad for each of us.

I decided to mix it up tonight, and go with a cheesy Southwest Turkey sandwich and cherry lemonade.

And my mom decided to mix it up by throwing an order for potato slices in cheese and chile sauce.

The food at the Quarters is always good, but the talking is always good as well, and tonight we caught up on a week of events. We talked about family. I shared about my experiences on my trip to Milwaukee with Scott. They shared about what they did with some friends visiting at their home this week. We talked about Las Vegas, making decisions in life, baseball, the tragic death of a family acquaintance this morning at the hands of another. We talked about the yummy food. And we talked about how we were put in a section all by our lonesome, while each guest that entered before or behind us in the restaurant was seated on the upper deck.

We were special. Or too loud.

The nice part is that we just talked.

I am grateful I have my parents to talk to, when I need to, whether its about something hard and heavy, or light and laugh-provoking- which is more often the case.

Because I realize I miss them when I can’t talk to them.

I could have swore it’s a Friday night!

We’ll just say the weekend started early.