I work from an office near my mother’s house two days a week, so I stay at her house overnight. Me and my mom have a good relationship but it has its rocky moments, usually when we are in close proximity to one another for too long. I have a sarcastic streak that can border on caustic. I’ve been working on correcting it, and apologizing when I go too far. But it’s hard for us to bond because we both have strong personalities and she’s pretty stubborn and doesn’t really like trying new things. We have a lot in common, but it doesn’t mean we always get along. In fact we’ve gotten more distant over the last few years due to a number of misunderstandings and secrets as well as the fact that she constantly feels the need to hide important things from me and my brother.

A few months ago I realized that if I’m going to be here one night a week we were going to need some kind of activity to do together. I’ve tried to get her to watch things with me before, but she never could do it. She never saw television as something that was worth her time. Before you guess, no, we don’t watch dramas together.

One week I made her watch the first episode of The Good Place with her. She really loved it. We binged the first three seasons over about 2 months. When it was done she was distraught. What was going to happen to these four? She loved the characters. She was making references to them in conversation. I told her the final season was starting soon and she was so nervous for the characters. She was one who would want to stay up for “just one more episode,” or as she would say “I guess we could watch one more episode,” as if I were forcing her to watch this.
It was adorable and hilarious and I mock her endlessly for it and text my brother her ridiculousness. She would laugh too.

Now that The Good Place is over we’ve been working our way through Brooklyn 9-9 and I’m pretty sure she has a crush on Andy Samberg. She’ll be getting knee surgery this summer and I’ll probably be home with her for a week or two while she recovers. I’m trying to figure out what to do with her. And maybe I’ll try a drama again (she couldn’t quite get on board the last time I tried).

I know this isn’t the bonding she wants, bit it’s nice to finally share something that we can laugh about. It means a lot to me that she enjoys this and I love spending time with her laughing over the silly shenanigans of these fictional characters.

Love,
February