In which you skip this because other people's drama is exhausting
I want to write this, but I don't want anyone to feel compelled to read it, so here, have some cut tags!
I declined the half-time job the second time they offered it to me, as well. We still haven't heard back about the job James put in for. He's pretty stressed about it, but the way I look at it, nothing changes if he doesn't get it, and we should at least know if he got an interview by tomorrow, so that stress should go away soon.
Three and a half years ago, Munchkin the Younger, a.k.a. wftpotatoes, a.k.a. my kid came to live at my mom's, with the understanding that she could stay for the 2 years necessary to get her AA degree, and then she had to move. It took her 2.5 years, but she moved when she finished school (okay, almost finished -- she's missing one math class), and we agreed to subsidize her rent for a year since she was going into the job market after a couple years in school. Mom and I each contributed $300 a month for the past year, and last month was the last installment. The kid waited until about 6 weeks ago to start looking for a job, and doesn't have one yet, and isn't really making any moves to do anything about that. I have been recommending that she go to the EDD for months and months, and when I mentioned it last weekend, she's all, "What's EDD? I've never heard of that," so I'm really needing to disengage from my fear that she will end up in a gutter. She's almost 30 years old, has many skills, and always lands on her feet. The temptation is to jump in and fix it, but I'm not going to do it. She was moaning that she will have to sell her car (which she's never driven -- we bought it for her, but it took her over a year to get licensed, and she's still not insured, so it sits in our driveway), and I just said "Oh, bummer, well, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do." She keeps hinting to my mom that she wants to come back, but my mom says no way. She's a terrible roommate (my kid, I mean, although my mom can be a trial, too), and mom is very depressed when she has to deal with the kid daily, and it means I spend hours a day mediating their disputes, so no. Just no. Anyway, stressful.
Munchkin the Elder is at the doctor today. His legs are hugely swollen, he has a spot of pneumonia, he sits all day (Uber driver), chainsmokes, and eats nothing but pizza/chips/soda, so if they come back and tell him he has heart failure, I will be so unsurprised. Today, mom and I were going to go out for a birthday brunch. Instead, we will wait and see if the doctor tells the kid he can's drive -- if that's the case, we're going to go get him and drive his car here for him. Good thing mom has 6 parking spots at her house!
[UPDATE: They're thinking heart trouble; they're recommending gastric bypass surgery. Because of course they are. GAH!!!!!]
Mom's feeling better physically, but she is of course stressed about the kids. We both feel like we failed these humans. There is no real remedy for that at this point.
I'm thinking of getting therapy just to have someone to talk to about all the stress. The good thing (honest, I see it as a good thing) is that most of the stress is basically external to me -- my days are generally easy and pleasant, and everyone who's not me may be melting down, but all my stress is in the way of a contact low, as it were. Other than being in a sandwich-generation holding pattern (when will the next phase of my life begin? no one knows), things are pretty good. I'm making more money than I ever have, I love my work, I get lots of downtime to read and hang out with James and mom, and my health is better than it's been in years. So yeah, if the universe could just leave my loved ones in peace, that'd be great.
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth (DW). I welcome comments here or at the original post, where there are currently
comments. If you don't have a DW account, you can post using your LJ name as an OpenID account, or feel free to comment anonymously and I'll unscreen.
I declined the half-time job the second time they offered it to me, as well. We still haven't heard back about the job James put in for. He's pretty stressed about it, but the way I look at it, nothing changes if he doesn't get it, and we should at least know if he got an interview by tomorrow, so that stress should go away soon.
Three and a half years ago, Munchkin the Younger, a.k.a. wftpotatoes, a.k.a. my kid came to live at my mom's, with the understanding that she could stay for the 2 years necessary to get her AA degree, and then she had to move. It took her 2.5 years, but she moved when she finished school (okay, almost finished -- she's missing one math class), and we agreed to subsidize her rent for a year since she was going into the job market after a couple years in school. Mom and I each contributed $300 a month for the past year, and last month was the last installment. The kid waited until about 6 weeks ago to start looking for a job, and doesn't have one yet, and isn't really making any moves to do anything about that. I have been recommending that she go to the EDD for months and months, and when I mentioned it last weekend, she's all, "What's EDD? I've never heard of that," so I'm really needing to disengage from my fear that she will end up in a gutter. She's almost 30 years old, has many skills, and always lands on her feet. The temptation is to jump in and fix it, but I'm not going to do it. She was moaning that she will have to sell her car (which she's never driven -- we bought it for her, but it took her over a year to get licensed, and she's still not insured, so it sits in our driveway), and I just said "Oh, bummer, well, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do." She keeps hinting to my mom that she wants to come back, but my mom says no way. She's a terrible roommate (my kid, I mean, although my mom can be a trial, too), and mom is very depressed when she has to deal with the kid daily, and it means I spend hours a day mediating their disputes, so no. Just no. Anyway, stressful.
Munchkin the Elder is at the doctor today. His legs are hugely swollen, he has a spot of pneumonia, he sits all day (Uber driver), chainsmokes, and eats nothing but pizza/chips/soda, so if they come back and tell him he has heart failure, I will be so unsurprised. Today, mom and I were going to go out for a birthday brunch. Instead, we will wait and see if the doctor tells the kid he can's drive -- if that's the case, we're going to go get him and drive his car here for him. Good thing mom has 6 parking spots at her house!
[UPDATE: They're thinking heart trouble; they're recommending gastric bypass surgery. Because of course they are. GAH!!!!!]
Mom's feeling better physically, but she is of course stressed about the kids. We both feel like we failed these humans. There is no real remedy for that at this point.
I'm thinking of getting therapy just to have someone to talk to about all the stress. The good thing (honest, I see it as a good thing) is that most of the stress is basically external to me -- my days are generally easy and pleasant, and everyone who's not me may be melting down, but all my stress is in the way of a contact low, as it were. Other than being in a sandwich-generation holding pattern (when will the next phase of my life begin? no one knows), things are pretty good. I'm making more money than I ever have, I love my work, I get lots of downtime to read and hang out with James and mom, and my health is better than it's been in years. So yeah, if the universe could just leave my loved ones in peace, that'd be great.
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth (DW). I welcome comments here or at the original post, where there are currently
comments. If you don't have a DW account, you can post using your LJ name as an OpenID account, or feel free to comment anonymously and I'll unscreen.