I’m not sure how many times we woke to kiss and touch and lick.I awoke with a startle to Karen's soft gasp of surprise. She had just come upon me cu...led up belly-to-belly with Jay, half asleep, heads resting on each other's inner thighs. Karen. My oldest friend, my nursing school buddy, my unrequited lust object, seeing me with a stranger. Our eyes met in the semidark of the room, dawning realization in hers, love in mine.She smiled. “Who’s your friend?” I reached for Karen's hand as Jay slowly. At Doctor Crandall’s office Scott was first given a number of forms to complete and sign. That being done he was sent down to the basement in the building to have x-rays of his hip done.Scott was back in an exam room when the door open and he assumed Doctor Crandall walked in.The Doctor didn’t have the best bedside manner as without introducing himself he came right to the point speaking somewhat rapidly, “I have looked at the x-rays and there is no indication you need a hip replacement. What I. “This is the martial-arts dude’s house!”“The what?” Debbie blurted.I delivered to this guy yesterday,” George told her, his eyes wide with excitement. “I saw him kick the shit out of three guys out the front of his building. I think they were giving him a hard time or something, ‘cause they had him on the ground, but then he pulls this pole out of nowhere and just goes whack, whack, wham!” George performed an enthusiastic demonstration behind the counter of how the pole was utilised.“Wait,”. I know this man will take care of them and I have nothing to worry about.We'd just gotten to the elevators when he asked if he could call me Mildred. What an odd question. Then I realized that in all our conversations I'd been referred to as Wes and Les's Mom. Even Sam calls me Mom.I realized that's what I'd become. Mom. Oh, the minister and a couple of people at church called me Mrs. Bond, but for the most part I was either Mom or Wes & Les's Mom. Maybe I'd been hiding behind that identity.