Mom's gone completely nuts
Last night Eve and I got one hour of sleep.
My Dad woke us up at 3am to blackmail us emotionally into not visiting anyone else while we're in Ohio. This was a follow up to a 10pm call from my Mom, in which she complained about the difficulty of getting Eve to her yarn spinning workshop 12 miles from their house and why didn't Eve just ask them to mail her the patterns instead of going? I explained that Eve was very much looking forward to the workshop, that we'd paid for it, that we'd taken care of transport and she didn't have to drive us anywhere, and that a letter was en route detailing our itinerary.
Unfortunately I also mentioned that my cousin Barbara had invited us to visit her in Columbus, ~70 miles away, and that we'd like to go, since again we'd arranged transport and details were in the post. This outraged Mom, who didn't understand why we'd want to see Barbara (who was my favorite cousin as a child and vice versa, as Mom well knows) and we weren't spending any time with her, etc etc. I said that we were still spending about 4 days with them, I'd like to see my cousin and our mutual friends, and again an itinerary was in the post and maybe she should wait until she read it before commenting. I also pointed out that there were many other places in the world we could have traveled to.
Well I eventually calmed her down and got her off the phone, and then Eve took me for a stiff drink, followed by another one. So we got to bed late. I foolishly left my phone on while plugged in, because I should have known what would happen. Yep, Dad calls at 3. My first words were "It's 3 o'clock in the morning, this had better be important." He said it was, to wit that my mother was "terribly hurt" and insulted that we were going to visit my [favorite] cousin [whom I haven't seen in 20+ years], that Barbara and anyone else was free to come visit us all at their house, but that if we were going to go stay at other people's houses for part of our trip, we shouldn't come visit them on this trip at all. However, he continued, they are both very old and may not both be alive the next time we visit. I pointed out that I knew how old they were, that this was emotional blackmail and that I did not appreciate it one bit. He said it was nothing of the kind. I'm afraid I used the word "horseshit" and got a bit stroppy about having spent 2 grand on air tickets. And it finished with me hanging up on him, which I have never done to my Dad. This is of course why Mom put him up to it instead of calling herself (thinking I wouldn't know about that bit of family dynamics, only having grown up with them the first 17 years of my life).
Fortunately, knowing my family, I had arranged with a friend in Dayton to stay in his spare bedroom if push came to shove. If my parents decide they want to see us while we're in Dayton, they will have to call us and arrange it.
My Dad woke us up at 3am to blackmail us emotionally into not visiting anyone else while we're in Ohio. This was a follow up to a 10pm call from my Mom, in which she complained about the difficulty of getting Eve to her yarn spinning workshop 12 miles from their house and why didn't Eve just ask them to mail her the patterns instead of going? I explained that Eve was very much looking forward to the workshop, that we'd paid for it, that we'd taken care of transport and she didn't have to drive us anywhere, and that a letter was en route detailing our itinerary.
Unfortunately I also mentioned that my cousin Barbara had invited us to visit her in Columbus, ~70 miles away, and that we'd like to go, since again we'd arranged transport and details were in the post. This outraged Mom, who didn't understand why we'd want to see Barbara (who was my favorite cousin as a child and vice versa, as Mom well knows) and we weren't spending any time with her, etc etc. I said that we were still spending about 4 days with them, I'd like to see my cousin and our mutual friends, and again an itinerary was in the post and maybe she should wait until she read it before commenting. I also pointed out that there were many other places in the world we could have traveled to.
Well I eventually calmed her down and got her off the phone, and then Eve took me for a stiff drink, followed by another one. So we got to bed late. I foolishly left my phone on while plugged in, because I should have known what would happen. Yep, Dad calls at 3. My first words were "It's 3 o'clock in the morning, this had better be important." He said it was, to wit that my mother was "terribly hurt" and insulted that we were going to visit my [favorite] cousin [whom I haven't seen in 20+ years], that Barbara and anyone else was free to come visit us all at their house, but that if we were going to go stay at other people's houses for part of our trip, we shouldn't come visit them on this trip at all. However, he continued, they are both very old and may not both be alive the next time we visit. I pointed out that I knew how old they were, that this was emotional blackmail and that I did not appreciate it one bit. He said it was nothing of the kind. I'm afraid I used the word "horseshit" and got a bit stroppy about having spent 2 grand on air tickets. And it finished with me hanging up on him, which I have never done to my Dad. This is of course why Mom put him up to it instead of calling herself (thinking I wouldn't know about that bit of family dynamics, only having grown up with them the first 17 years of my life).
Fortunately, knowing my family, I had arranged with a friend in Dayton to stay in his spare bedroom if push came to shove. If my parents decide they want to see us while we're in Dayton, they will have to call us and arrange it.