My daughter invited me to dinner to 'reconnect' — but then used my card, ordered oysters and champagne, and told the waiter, 'Mom’s paying.' I kept calm, stepped outside, froze the card under the streetlight, and left before dessert. To me, that’s a boundary — and I closed the account. It was a Thursday on the East Coast, cold enough that the valet’s breath showed in little clouds, the kind of American evening where a tiny flag flickers over a brick doorway and the streetlight hums like an old f