2011 - the year of family shenanigans?
I haven't mentioned it, because it hasn't been as interesting a story as when she was dating the Wee Irish Man, but mom has been dating a new guy for about 8-9 months now. My sister and I don't like him as much, although he's not a horrible person or anything - his personality is just a little bit off-putting. However, between the two of us, we see only bad things to come in their relationship, both from his side and hers. Firstly, they don't seem to be communicating very well. Secondly, he's stubborn and pushy. Thirdly, they both want different things out of life. He's a "life is an adventure and we don't know what will come next and whee!" type, and my mom is a bit of a hypochondriac(ok, she's really and truly one) and likes her quiet routine and sometimes wants to just stay in bed all day and thinks adventure is a dirty word. Also mom loves considering herself a frail flower - she is the oldest 61-year-old in the world - and hates bustling while this guy is very much a bustle-around type. And also also, he seems to think he's St. Francis incarnate, and is full of good works and simple living, which is laudable but not when you're trying to impose that lifestyle on a woman who doesn't want it, at all.
Mostly, we wish my mom would just put the brakes on things. Instead, they're talking marriage, despite the huge red flags already mentioned. Sadly, she is apparently now on the path to marrying the guy (despite calling it quits on the relationship about five times now) and seems to be waiting for some external force - God, the Church, her kids - to be the ones to prevent her from going down this path if it's not the right choice. I phoned her up just now, and talked about it with her in a way that didn't make her defensive, and hopefully we'll be able to slow down the matrimony train.
And in other news, my father has just announced, in an aside in an email to my sister, that he's moving to Korea for good. This Wednesday. My brain is trying to make me feel that now is the time for regret - that I should have been more aggressive about trying to reconcile with him while he was in the US. But I'm not feeling that way. I'm feeling something, and I will poke at that feeling more later, but I think it's mostly just a vague regret that it's all turned out this way, and not guilt that I didn't fix it somehow. Which I suppose is improvement, because I will assume guilt for a wide range of things at the drop of a hat, most days.
So, uh...there's that, that's been happening. I will look at it this way - it's all fodder for the novel, right?
Mostly, we wish my mom would just put the brakes on things. Instead, they're talking marriage, despite the huge red flags already mentioned. Sadly, she is apparently now on the path to marrying the guy (despite calling it quits on the relationship about five times now) and seems to be waiting for some external force - God, the Church, her kids - to be the ones to prevent her from going down this path if it's not the right choice. I phoned her up just now, and talked about it with her in a way that didn't make her defensive, and hopefully we'll be able to slow down the matrimony train.
And in other news, my father has just announced, in an aside in an email to my sister, that he's moving to Korea for good. This Wednesday. My brain is trying to make me feel that now is the time for regret - that I should have been more aggressive about trying to reconcile with him while he was in the US. But I'm not feeling that way. I'm feeling something, and I will poke at that feeling more later, but I think it's mostly just a vague regret that it's all turned out this way, and not guilt that I didn't fix it somehow. Which I suppose is improvement, because I will assume guilt for a wide range of things at the drop of a hat, most days.
So, uh...there's that, that's been happening. I will look at it this way - it's all fodder for the novel, right?