Whew – the folks were here – we had a nice visit and now they’re gone – WHEW! As Noland noted – it’s a bit of a passive-aggressive pattern between my mother and I and if they were here for more then the 65 hours that they were here – we would have to do even more serious dinking then I’m already in need of…
Here is an example of a conversation we had on Thursday night (mind you they’d been in town a total of maybe 4 hours at this point):
Mom: so you need to put the leftovers in the refrigerator you know
Me: I will
Mom: so lets go clean up the kitchen and put those away
Me: I’ll do it later
Mom: well but won’t you feel better if you do it now, plus that needs to be refrigerated…
Me: I will do it later
Mom: Let’s go do it now. I’ll help
Me: Mom – I don’t think the enchiladas sitting on the counter for another hour will hurt. It’s not like its 90 degrees in here or there are bugs crawling around my kitchen
Mom: well, but there are all the dishes to that need to be washed
Me: Yes, and we have a dishwasher, and maybe tomorrow I’ll load them in and wash them. Dishes often sit in my kitchen for more then a day and the world doesn’t fall apart…
(We didn’t put the enchiladas away then, but about an hour later we did have to load the dishwasher – and I had to start it running to stop her from making me do the hand wash dishes right then and there)
End of the first full day - Friday night:
Mom: you know it’s time for the news.
Me: (rolling eyes) we don’t watch the news
Mom: well some of us just like to know what’s going on in the world
Me: you know you can read the news and then you don’t have to watch the same sound bites over and over again.
Mom: but then it’s at least a day old…
Dad: and besides - you don’t even get the daily paper.
Me: it’s called the Internet – and then it can be minutes old
Mom: but here we can see what’s important in the world
Me: Sure, important to the programmer trying to get ratings…I bet there will be nothing on this broadcast that I didn’t already read online today…and with more information
Mom: all media is biased, you’re not getting anymore of a correct story by reading it online, so why not just watch it here
Me: I’m not saying it isn’t biased, but because I can link from one source to another to get different perspectives on the same information I know more about the topic then what’s covered in the 30 seconds they devote to it here…
(We did watch the NBC Nightly News, but I refused to watch the local news, and that disturbed them as well, even though they don’t live here and have no idea what it would be about)
Or in a store on trendy-third Saturday afternoon as Noland and I were looking at a dining table and chairs that we liked:
Me: This is the type of table we want – its big and sturdy and solid
Mom: but just one for a lot less then that
Me: well, no not really, most that are like this are in this price range, we just need to wait a few more months to save up for it
Mom: I’m sure there are ones that are less
Me: well I’m sure a little, but this is about what it will cost
Mom: plus you can’t get that – it’s wood and you’ll set your drinks on it and ruin in
Me: yes, because we’re twelve we don’t know how to take care of things
Mom: well people will come over and they won’t use coasters and you’ll get marks on it
Me: it’s a table; you’re supposed to use it
Noland: plus I kinda like that distressed/used sort of look
Mom: well people don’t mean to, but they just don’t think and they’ll ruin and then you won’t have a nice table anymore
Me: well then yes, by all means we won’t be able to get that…
And so it goes…every conversation turns into a bit of a power play…her trying to still be the mother in charge and me fighting back like I was still 16…
I love ‘em – but man am I glad I don’t live anywhere near ‘em.
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