St. Louis, Baseball, and a Seminar: A Weekend Getaway with Mom

If my mother and I didn't share some kind of genetic strand, the differences between us would make one question how we knew each other.

Her: Loud, spunky, dramatic, makeup and hair always done, jewelery galore, always dressed flashy, loves anything that sparkles, loves shopping, has childlike faith in everything and everyone, can quote the bible word for word (or at least in a sense of proving her point), and is completely oblivious to what anyone else is doing or thinking...

Me: Laid back, calm and collected for the most part, hair in a ponytail, little makeup, can't remember the last time I wore jewelery, loves sweatpants and flip flops, despises shopping, would rather spend my money on a beer and heaping pile of nachos at a baseball game, and tries to find humor rather than be embarrassed by other people's reaction to my mother's obliviousness and disregard for personal space. (Ex. In an elevator with plenty of room, she will stand 4 inches from someone, facing and staring at them, with no regard to anything other than she's just looking at them...)

Despite our differences, we planned a weekend trip to St. Louis to attend a workshop/seminar taught by one of our favorite author's Marianne Williamson.

After a 6 hour drive of singing very loudly to Conway Twitty, Randy Travis, and Dwight Yoakam's Greatest Hits, we arrived in good old St. Loui! And Thank God for the GPS navigational system in my mother's KIA Sorento, we checked into the beautiful Crowne Plaza Hotel, that I got a great deal on through priceline.com.

First on the agenda was baseball! I have always wanted to see the Cardinals' stadium and I found some cheap tickets on stubhub so we could catch a game while in the area. Luckily, the metrolink was only a few blocks from our hotel, so we were able to catch a quick and easy train ride to the game.

 Second on the agenda was food! Yes, those are a heaping pile of glorious fatty nachos from a build your own nachos station in the stadium. Half St. Louis pulled pork and half ground beef... the picture says it all.



I was very satisfied with my nachos, cold beer, beautiful view of the city, experience of the truly magnificent stadium (that doesn't hold a bad seat),  and well, who doesn't love a baseball? :)

Third, and foremost, on the agenda was the workshop/seminar.
Mom and I in University City, on the the campus of Washington University in St. Louis before the seminar.

Meeting and getting our books signed by one of the most inspirational and admirable women I've ever met, Marianne Williamson (obviously not the best picture of her).

The seminar was absolutely amazing, intensely spiritual, and inspiring. The baseball game was a lot of fun, and the hotel was beautiful with an indoor/outdoor conjoined pool that we definitely took advantage of.

But I think the best part is that for the most part, my mom and I actually got along really well, even with some unstable amounts of estrogen in the atmosphere. Despite some frustration with her not understanding why we couldn't stop through Tennessee really quick on our way back to Iowa, (please look at a map if you don't know why) a map and directions are just a concept that my mom has never quite been able to get a grasp of, even when I tried to explain to her several times that Tennessee was hours in the wrong direction of our way back...

Luckily, Dwight Yoakam's greatest hits were playing to help us get through the discussion and help her forget about "stopping through Tennessee really quick" as she drifted to sleep while I drove us home from the great weekend getaway to St. Louis.