"You are the sun, you are the rain..."
Last weekend I racked up about 3 million good daughter points. My mom had to go to Columbus for business on Friday, so she decided to drive to Grandma's in southern Ohio (Marietta, for those of you in the know) Saturday morning. Since I've been meaning to visit Grandma for a while, I decided to join her. Thank god she rented a hotel room for us Saturday night, because I don't think I could have done a seventeen hour straight run of "at Grandma's."
First, please understand that which is Marietta, OH. While driving there, my radio station choice became more and more limited. I listened to NPR until about Canton, then switched to some classic rock when that got too fuzzy. And then began the stage of only country music on two separate radio stations. That is southern Ohio: only country, only two stations. Of course, Sunday morning, driving back, one of the stations played some church service. You know I loved it. Although, honestly, there was something nice about the drive down. Ohio landscape is engrained on my childhood, and the non-country radio played a lot of my sentimental songs.
Regardless, it was good that I was there or Mom might have throttled Grandma. Apparently she wants to both move into an apartment she can't afford (she lives in one of those senior apartment grouping things) and to write my Aunt Beth and Uncle Brent out of the will. Because they are technically her husband's children and not hers. And they got some VA insurance thing when he died in October. And she's all spiteful and petty. Mom (my mom rules) informed her that if she wrote them out of the will, she sure as hell better write Mom out of the will as well. Also, she told her that she needed to grow up and look at the big picture with regards to her living situation. This all happened before I got there, so things were a tad tense upon my arrival.
Why else were they tense, you ask? Oh, because Grandma insisted on Mom and I having wine with her new creepy man-friend-thing. He's old and kind of smooth and wore a gross old man jogging suit thing. My mom and I kept rolling our eyes at each other across the room.
Thank god for the hotel room because it allowed for mother-daughter venting Saturday night. We both squealed, "Ewwww!" about the man-friend-thing, and mom told me about what happened before I got there. I told her that I was glad my mother wasn't bat-shit crazy, and she told me that I was much more rewarding to vent to about her mother than Dad. I imagine that Dad doesn't feel he can say as many negative things about Grandma as I can. I mean, we both love Grandma, but she really lives in her own world, and that can be very frustrating. Also, drinking wine at 2 with her man-thing. Ew.
In other news, I hosted an interviewee last night, who I'm pretty sure sought me out because of my major and because she's queer. I think. Also, she's definitely Unitarian, which rocks. I had some people over for lasagna (with sneaky tofu in the ricotta) and salad and lemon meringue pie last night, so she could meet other med students and so I could use my mixer. She's gone now, but she had a good interview, and I wish her luck.
Grandma likes to say that I'm the grandchild with the most of her in me. Eeeeek.
First, please understand that which is Marietta, OH. While driving there, my radio station choice became more and more limited. I listened to NPR until about Canton, then switched to some classic rock when that got too fuzzy. And then began the stage of only country music on two separate radio stations. That is southern Ohio: only country, only two stations. Of course, Sunday morning, driving back, one of the stations played some church service. You know I loved it. Although, honestly, there was something nice about the drive down. Ohio landscape is engrained on my childhood, and the non-country radio played a lot of my sentimental songs.
Regardless, it was good that I was there or Mom might have throttled Grandma. Apparently she wants to both move into an apartment she can't afford (she lives in one of those senior apartment grouping things) and to write my Aunt Beth and Uncle Brent out of the will. Because they are technically her husband's children and not hers. And they got some VA insurance thing when he died in October. And she's all spiteful and petty. Mom (my mom rules) informed her that if she wrote them out of the will, she sure as hell better write Mom out of the will as well. Also, she told her that she needed to grow up and look at the big picture with regards to her living situation. This all happened before I got there, so things were a tad tense upon my arrival.
Why else were they tense, you ask? Oh, because Grandma insisted on Mom and I having wine with her new creepy man-friend-thing. He's old and kind of smooth and wore a gross old man jogging suit thing. My mom and I kept rolling our eyes at each other across the room.
Thank god for the hotel room because it allowed for mother-daughter venting Saturday night. We both squealed, "Ewwww!" about the man-friend-thing, and mom told me about what happened before I got there. I told her that I was glad my mother wasn't bat-shit crazy, and she told me that I was much more rewarding to vent to about her mother than Dad. I imagine that Dad doesn't feel he can say as many negative things about Grandma as I can. I mean, we both love Grandma, but she really lives in her own world, and that can be very frustrating. Also, drinking wine at 2 with her man-thing. Ew.
In other news, I hosted an interviewee last night, who I'm pretty sure sought me out because of my major and because she's queer. I think. Also, she's definitely Unitarian, which rocks. I had some people over for lasagna (with sneaky tofu in the ricotta) and salad and lemon meringue pie last night, so she could meet other med students and so I could use my mixer. She's gone now, but she had a good interview, and I wish her luck.
Grandma likes to say that I'm the grandchild with the most of her in me. Eeeeek.