Life on the other side
My trip to the states went pretty well, and my sister-in-law's family is much nicer than perhaps my tweets made it seem. Still, I am totally in awe of the scale of the wedding she's planning, and that is partially what makes me somewhat uncomfortable. The other is that it doesn't seem like my brother's interests or input is being considered at all, which I suppose is fairly par for the course with grooms, but it still makes me a little sad. The other thing that really set me off kilter was the "family pictures slide show" that was put together at the party and watched over and over and over. Of course, there were loads of pictures of us with Dad in there (as well as of other long loved and lost relatives) and at one stage I had to excuse myself from the party to go bawl in the upstairs bathroom (it was held at future sis-in-law's mother's house). I totally understand why her family members were interested in seeing it, but it was significantly more emotionally trying than I was expecting or really prepared to deal with. And then we sat and watched it again the next morning while they asked us to explain all the pictures. It was a struggle to say the least, but it made them happy. Needless to say, I was really glad to be done with that. Still, we had some good times with Bud and some nice talks in too, so it wasn't all darkness and tears.
Unfortunately, some of that lingering sadness held over into Mom's trip here, but we still had a good time. We went out to Hampton Court, out to Bath, and had tea with kaveypie for our joint birthdays. We also had lots of really good talks, including on religion where she admitted that while she hopes I come back to the Catholic Church eventually she respects and understands my search. She even came to Meeting for Worship, which I appreciated very much. We also had a tense chat about her current boyfriend, who I have concerns about but seems to be treating her ok at the minute. I am constantly awed at how such a beautiful, caring, intelligent and strong woman can have such low self-esteem. I do my best to reassure her, but ultimately that's going to have to be something that she comes to on her own. This must be how parents feel.
So overall, a pretty good couple of weeks but were very emotionally stressful. I had originally intended for this week to be fairly low key so that I could start synthesising all of the blah that has occurred lately. Unfortunately, it seems the universe had other plans and instead I've spent most of my time running around after the materials for my course and trying to read those in time for classes that start today. I haven't even managed to start some of the first steps on the volunteering path yet. On the upside, I'm holding out ok on the whole "housewife" thing and have managed to at least keep up with the chores these past few days. Those of you who remember Austin will also know that this is NOT my strong point, but I'm working on it.
No rest for the weary wicked, it seems.
Unfortunately, some of that lingering sadness held over into Mom's trip here, but we still had a good time. We went out to Hampton Court, out to Bath, and had tea with kaveypie for our joint birthdays. We also had lots of really good talks, including on religion where she admitted that while she hopes I come back to the Catholic Church eventually she respects and understands my search. She even came to Meeting for Worship, which I appreciated very much. We also had a tense chat about her current boyfriend, who I have concerns about but seems to be treating her ok at the minute. I am constantly awed at how such a beautiful, caring, intelligent and strong woman can have such low self-esteem. I do my best to reassure her, but ultimately that's going to have to be something that she comes to on her own. This must be how parents feel.
So overall, a pretty good couple of weeks but were very emotionally stressful. I had originally intended for this week to be fairly low key so that I could start synthesising all of the blah that has occurred lately. Unfortunately, it seems the universe had other plans and instead I've spent most of my time running around after the materials for my course and trying to read those in time for classes that start today. I haven't even managed to start some of the first steps on the volunteering path yet. On the upside, I'm holding out ok on the whole "housewife" thing and have managed to at least keep up with the chores these past few days. Those of you who remember Austin will also know that this is NOT my strong point, but I'm working on it.
No rest for the weary wicked, it seems.