A Penny For Your Thoughts

3. Home Sweet Home

Under Paul's strict enforcement, I took the remainder of the original two week vacation. The first thing that I did was to visit my parents for the weekend.

They were certainly excited to see me. My mother, in particular, was over the moon. It had been six months since I last stepped foot in our Oakland home.

Over the course of the two days, my mother ensured that I was well fed. That was one of the perks of being an only child. We were pampered even well into our adult days.

Home cooked meals were something that I sorely missed. In the five years that I had moved across the bridge to San Francisco, my cooking had not improved in the slightest. As a result, I resorted to takeout most nights. There were the odd nights where I would cook, but that meant heating up frozen meals or adding water to instant noodles. That was the bulk of my culinary abilities.

My mother's tried and true lasagna recipe blew all of my so-called cooking out of the water. It was the perfect comfort food, even on a warm afternoon in June. Every bite hit the right spots. After a hearty helping of the lasagna, I was totally ready to be unproductive for a little while and take a much needed nap.

My room was still in the same condition as I last remembered it. An autographed poster of Rickey Henderson hung on the wall in front of my bed. I used to wake up to his batting stance every morning before school. That was back in the glorious Oakland baseball days before the turn of the century.

On my desk was a framed picture of twelve year old me with Hanks, the Labrador that frequently accompanied me during those teenage years. Many of my fondest high school memories often included Hanks.

Everything seemed to be the same, and yet there was one distinct difference. The smell. Gone was the stench that emanated from worn but unwashed clothes. In its place was the mild scent of a citrus air freshener. That must have been my mother's handiwork.

When I woke up, I found my parents watching a cooking show in the living room. I took the unoccupied seat and joined them as the chef on screen began filleting his fish. It was quiet for a moment, but then the conversation started flowing steadily. We discussed my job, the weather, commute, the Oakland Athletics and everything in between. It had been a while since that happened.

It was worth noting that my soft spoken manners were passed down from my mother. Although my father wasn't exactly similar in that nature, he was used to our reserved approach and made changes accordingly. As a result, we didn't talk very much but our family dynamic remained strong. It was just the recipe for success in the Reed household.

My parents were living proof that opposites did attract. Both their appearances and personalities differed by a distinct margin, yet it was that difference that allowed them to mesh together like clasped hands. One's strength made up for the other's weakness.

As previously mentioned, my father wasn't exactly a guy that flew under the radars. He was a former college outfielder - hence our shared passion for the Athletics - and that background fit his appearance, being moderately tall with broad shoulders. Most of my physical appearance, such as the brown hair and matching eyes, were passed down by him but our statures took different paths. I opted for even more height at the expense of muscle.

My mother was average in height, five foot six or so, with a slender structure. Her once long blonde hair had lost its length as she adopted the bob as her default hairstyle, at least of late. Our fair complexion, as opposed to my father's tanned skin, was the only physical feature that we shared. Most of our commonalities resided in the mental and emotional areas, with our thought driven approach and a preference to keep quiet unless deemed necessary.

The two definitely had their own strengths and weaknesses. I liked to think that I inherited the best of both worlds from them.

When the weekend turned over and the new week came along, I found myself traveling back and forth between the two cities on a regular basis. I wanted to spend some more time with my parents during my break. The only complication was that my parents didn't have the luxury of a vacation - not this particular week, at least - which meant that I had to keep myself busy during the day time.