Compliments Of A Sunday

Blurry trees in the Pacific Northwest with a sliver of a moon.

It was a very cloudy, cool day. Fireworks were already popping off randomly in the late afternoon as neighbors tested their ammunition for the upcoming July 4th celebrations. I decided to wear jeans and a fitted black cotton top with my hair up and some gold hoops that were given to me for my birthday.

We went for a birthday dinner at a favorite place of ours. I had green enchiladas paired with a Mamacita Margarita and queso that was so delicious — it dripped across the table as I tried to land some into my mouth via a tortilla chip. I took a photo of a large family sitting across from us —they were all smiles and laughing. “Cheeeeeese!” It looked like they were possibly from out of town.

 
After dinner and some flan, we loaded back up into the car and I decided on the way home that a nice, quiet walk around the neighborhood would be good since it was so mild out and still light enough that I wouldn’t be looking over my shoulder the whole time.

I was dropped off at home and went inside and changed into a pair of slightly faded black leggings and an oversized, men’s button-down shirt that hit mid-thigh. Leaving in the gold hoops and throwing on my “far away glasses”, I tied on my sneakers and jauntily walked out the door sans phone.

 
Not fifty feet into my walk I see a black Honda sedan with a busted passenger side window taped over with a black garbage bag slowly drive by. The driver was a young guy with a Domino’s pizza hat on and the window was down. I glanced and smiled and kept walking, then …

 
“Hey, ma’am, are you Stacy’s mom?”

 
Thinking he was trying to deliver a pizza on our dead-end street somewhere, I replied, “No, sorry.” And then turned around to continue my walk.

“Oh, you know it’s from the song. It’s in reference to the song,” he said and smiled.

 
“Right. Ok.”

“Well, that’s my compliment to you!”

“Um, ok.” I gave a nod and continued my walk.

 
🎶 Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want
And I've waited for so long
Stacy, can't you see?
You're just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong but
I'm in love with Stacy's mom 🎶

While walking past the yard with American flags sticking out in every direction and lavender blooming all over in another, I felt a bit irritated. I kept on walking, trying to discern why I felt annoyed — then it hit me. I knew why.

The sky was turning a rosy-purple color as the sun was trying to peek out just before sleeping. Not totally feeling the walk anymore, I turned around and went back to the house. I drank a glass of water and kicked off my sneakers. The sound of fireworks continued going off and reverberated throughout the neighborhood.