Monday, August 24, 2009

Relaxing (?) vacation?- NOT!

This is the slideshow of some of the photos I took of my trip to VT. You have to realize it was almost 4 straight days of rain!! With a 3 yr old! Come on, look how sad he was...and my mom... and her friend who just liked to rib the crap out of me ANY time he could, until I truely got pissed. No amount of come-backs could keep him from the tormenting complaints or 'teasing' as my mom said. Well, you know what? sometimes, teasing is teasing and sometimes it's like a mosquito trying to tag your elbow just one time too many! REALLY irritating! But he's mom's 'guest', and she likes him, and he's 89, so I tried to make my come-backs as 'kidding remarks', but I'm afraid it didn't always turn out that way.
He tried to goad me into losing it (occasionally it worked!), by having occasions to have my mom 'wait on him'... like him sitting on the bunkbed (lower) and having her 'tie his sneakers' (!??). Pretty degrading for me to watch my mom do that. Even though she likes to wait on 'everyone'! She raised me pretty damned independant and now I think she regrets it, since I don't like to have anyone do something I can perfectly do myself (even her)! Believe me, it's not like he's an invalid! Just a little hard of hearing and is rather 'persnickity' about his habits-- everything has to be 'just so'. And nothing can change or diviate from his routine without him commenting on how 'he's used to this, and 'he's used to it being done that way, etc. Hey, whatever floats your boat! That's his issue, not mine.
And then pointing out that I'm doing my grandson's shoes (well, he's 3 YRS OLD!) when I rolled my eyes at my mom doing his ("I don't mind, dear" says mom).... I told him I would have done his at 3 also, but that I thought he was perfectly capable to do his own! Hey, when I'm up at the cabin, I like to 'relax'. Not that I COULD when I'm in charge of an active, bored (in the 4 days of rain), one room house-cabin fevered 3 yr old!! But I don't like to have someone kiddingly (as my mom said) ride me constantly.

Truely... I mean, I'm sweeping the place out (much to the shagrin of my mom who thought I should have vacumned the place), really well, and as I'm doing the last half of the room, he's mentioning that there are two specks on the floor on the porch! (Now this is from the 'guest' who isn't doing any of the cleaning up of the cabin, yet even my grandson wants to 'help'.) I immediately leaned over towards him, broom outstretched in my hand and said, "here you go... anyone who complains, gets the job!" (with a smile)... Believe me, the cabin doesn't have to be THAT immaculate! Just swept up. (he didn't take the broom).
Another example was every morning, he has a banana and cereal- no deviation-. Not a problem, ... I was making a bunch of pancakes (I really should have halved the recipe), and after giving my mom, and Kai and myself a couple of pancakes each, before I sat down to eat mine(I'm still cooking the rest of the batter up), he says, "How come nobody made any pancakes for ME??"(pouting). Maybe he WAS kidding, but this was CONSTANT! Any chance he could. (I DID make him a 'mouse' pancake- special- and gave it to him right then.) I can be critical, but this was over the top.... Even my mom asked him to 'behave' and not 'pick on me'. ( I told her "I could take care of myself, thanks, Mom"... "Oh, I'm sure you CAN,dear!"...). I think he was disappointed that I 'catered' to him, so he couldn't complain that I wasn't 'catering'.
And to think it all started after I reminded him of a 'rule' in a card game we were playing on the first night...once you lay down the card in the discard pile - it ends your turn. You have to stop laying down cards in your piles in front of you...(mom doesn't make him do this, although it's a 'rule'). I'm a serious card player about rules. He was really 'put-out' and started to make his comments. ... from then on...all weekend long. Although he did start to see the errors of his ways on day 3, and agreed to behave, but that lasted all of 10 mins.
God, am I glad I'm home.... where I don't get picked on, just to get back at. (How childish from a grown man).
I must have been tired, cuz I'm pissed that I reacted to ANY of it (I stopped reacting by day 4- I was too tired!)...
ps. obviously no quilts got worked on.... (see post below).

2 comments:

mimi said...

Just found your blog and read your last 2 posts. LOVED IT!!! It was very courageous of you to agree that your Mom could bring her friend on your vacation weekend! I'm a Christian and know we are to love everyone through Jesus, sometimes it's so difficult, and sometimes we just have to leave the situation for awhile and return with a different outlook--but a whole weekend with the person must have been hard--I would have lost my cool.I would have had to say something in a serious conversation to the man. I'll bet after that weekend your Mom thinks differently about him, right? Or you're hoping she does, right? I have to admit your post had me laughing--it was like a comedy sketch. I'm sorry, I can just picture all of y'all in the cabin and him sitting there commenting on your sweeping. I think in the sketch your person would have thrown the pancake batter at him!
mimi

Nancy E said...

The funny thing is, Mimi, it was my mom's vacation week. Our family has had the 3rd week (or 4th) of Aug since we were little to stay at the 'family' cabin. Since my dad died, and all of us kids had grown up with families of our own, she didn't feel comfortable going up alone. You have to open up everything, and go into a dirt cellar across cinder blocks to the electrical panel, but all the directions (step by step) are on the wall above the trap door in the floor- can you see what a procedure it would be? My sister goes up (with a gang of her friends and family) to open it up,... and I usually go up on the weekend at the end to help clean it up and close it down. It really is HER week, so I really had to behave- he was the 'guest' and I was just 'family'. And I can't tell you how many times I held my tongue, then just let go as controlled as I could! And I DID say something to him seriously- I was hoping he could tell I wasn't fooling around!! AND, right before the sweeping incident, LOL!! I really think he's MORE than hard of hearing!!