Mother's Day with Mom

For the first time in 6 years, I was able to be home to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom.

Of course, I spent the morning out with my father, but also with his girlfriend, another mother to celebrate. We ate at Stockbridges, which although primarily a cheesecake business, also serves up a mean asparagus and cheddar cheese omlette.

After I got home, me, my mother and stepfather headed out to the Greenfield Hill section of my town, to visit the 73^rd annual Dogwood Festival.

Dogwood trees were first planted in Fairfield in the early 1700s. The dogwood has become a symbol of my town, you cannot grow up here without celebrating the beautiful tree, and it has become something I really miss during springtime in Germany.

This year's festival featured wonderful weather, and beautiful blossoms. The fest, unlike any German fest, had very little beer and involved a lot of shopping – typically American. But, it also focused on all things typically Fairfield, the Greenfield Hill Congregational Church, the Hill itself, and the people of the town. Of course, there were beautiful craft booths set up. I particularly enjoyed the one from the lady who makes custom scrapbooks (www.enjoythejourneyscrapbooks.com) who provides beautiful fill – your-own scrapbooks. Yay! I even got part of Joern's anniverssary gift from her!

After we enjoyed looking at lovely hand-painted pottery and even more incredible original works of art, my mom and I decided to stroll around the grounds of the church, and enjoy the beautiful trees and weather.

We spent a lovely few hours rambling around the wonderful festival, and then my mom decided she wanted to take a drive to a wonderful lake here about an hour north of Fairfield. The lake, Lake Lilllinonah, is in Bridgewater, CT. We
used to drive up to the Lake about once a year when I was young, to enjoy a day in the boat on the Lake. My godfather's family had a very small piece of property in the lake (a tiny island,) that was only accessible by boat. The land was a great place for camping, and a day of relaxing and picnicking. The drive up to the lake amazed me, as I often forget that only a few miles north of Fairfield you find not the crazy hustle and bustle of the New York suburb, but you enter lovely, true New England country.

Lake Lillinonah itself was wonderful for me. My mom and I regaled stories of summers past, and let my stepfather in on a part of true Kohler family history. It brought back so many wonderful memories, some I shared, some I kept private, and was a wonderful way to help relieve some of the stress I have been dealing with over the past few weeks.

Our Mother's Day ended with a trip to the Peppermill restaurant, a family favorite. They recently had to move after the owners of the building decided to against renewing the lease on the restaurant that had occupied the same building for over 30 years in order to put up retail space. I was quite open to visiting the restaurant, run by the same people, with the same menu, in a different space. Sadly though, with the change in cleientele, most probably increased business, they were out of my two favorite meals by our 6:30 seating. This meant, having to settle for a delicious, yet strangely disappointing steak. Truly, this was a case of you can't go home again.

Overall, it was a beautiful day. It was nice to spend the day with my mom, along with my stepfather, it took a lot of pressure off the difficulties of communicating solely with my mom. And, it made me more aware of some of the pleasantries of life in Fairfield, Connecticut.