Although I hadn't planned on doing any shopping today, I knew I'd be leaving the house, because I always go to the post office on Saturday. That's the day I mail back my weekly supply of Netflix discs. It's the only way I have a chance to get the new Tuesday releases on Tuesday. Netflix gets the old discs back on Monday and mails me the new ones on the same day. I'm a little obsessive about it, even though there hasn't been much in the way of new DVD releases that I've been excited about lately.

This week, for example, I had them send me Atonement, which I'd already seen when it came out five years ago. But it's a great movie and I'd never seen it on Blu-ray, so there you go. Nothing new worth watching, try something old. That long tracking shot of the British troops at Dunkirk was always amazing, but not nearly as much on the old 4:3 DVD player that I watched it on the first time. It's one of the best portrayals of the chaos and madness of war ever put on film. (Or disc.)

Anyway, I got the text from Suzanne just in time. She's hosting the Mother's Day lunch tomorrow and needed a few last-minute supplies, so I took advantage of the unplanned trip to the supermarket to pick up some things from my own list and maybe save a trip during the week. Also, it was a chance to get something special I needed for tomorrow. I won't reveal what it was, but I'll remind you that tomorrow is Mother's Day.

Surprisingly, the store wasn't nearly as crowded as I'd feared. Unsurprisingly, many of the people there were men who with blank expressions on their faces. This is one of those holidays where we're forced to use our imagination and know something about the women in our lives. I'll admit I'm not very good at it and tend to fall back on reliable old favorites. It's creatively taxing when you've had the same mom for 63 years, but my heart is in the right place. (Let me check. Yes, still there.)