Just the other day I heard about the third or fourth person putting their life up for sale on ebay. I think if I put my life up there, I’d have to pay
someone to take it way to recycling. I’m being overdramatic. I know. It’s not all that bad.

Allergies (hay fever) are kicking my butt right now. Never in my life have they been so bad. We had two weeks of rain, and now two weeks of hot sunny conditions. I think the plants and their evil pollinators of pain are in overdrive. I’m taking Allegra 24 hour each morning and following up with a decongestant each night and I still wake up simultaneously wanting to scratch behind my eyeballs and eat a box of crackers without chewing so I can scratch the back of my throat. And the sneezing? Did you know you can sneeze in your sleep? Well, you’re asleep until the actual sneeze, which wakes you up. kind of like being dead asleep and having your toddler kick you in the side of the head. Fun!

The book is due in ten days. I just now found the perfect expert on the planet. The one who SHOULD be writing this book but is so happy to see ME writing it. she’s offered to review it before publication. And she may consider it as part of a certification course on the topic we’re both
involved in. Woot woot!

Dad is in town. He hasn’t seen us in over two years. But he’s finally met his granddaughter. she’s not sure what to think of him just yet. Dad is
staying at Mom’s house . they’ve been divorced for about 25 years. mom’s husband doesn’t mind, which is very good of him. Dad’s trying to help out around the house, doing some yard work and what not. But his Fibromyalgia flares up a bit here and there. He was poisoned with a chemical at a place he worked at five years ago and has been fighting “the system” every since. We may find out good news for him in September regarding his case. Send prayers please. His doctors have told him that because of the poisoning they suspect he’ll have dementia, Parkinson’s or Huntington’s within seven years. Dad wants to get his claim payout, buy a boat and go sail around the world. Then if he does get any of the above he’ll die at sea. What? Yeah, I don’t know even what to think about that.

We had a few beers over at mom’s last night and it was like a trip down memory lane. everyone talking about past events, you know how those family gatherings can be. Parts were very funny, parts were treading dangerously close to the Cliff of Calamity, knowing that just a misspoke word could break up the serenity. Parents are weird, I’m sure I’m weird as a parent too. or at least I will be when my kids are more aware of our weirdness. But I think MY parents are weird. I can almost predict their actions. Nothing is a surprise any more. Dad sits back and chuckles and doesn’t say much until there’s a topic he can sink his teeth into and shake it to death with his opinions. Mom is all laughs and jokes until someone offends her by laughing AT her and then she stomps off for quiet time, returning later but never in the jovial mood she started with.
 

The funny/not-funny moment happened when we started talking about my brother’s cat that died 20+ years ago. Mom started telling the story and said “I went to let him out and I shoed him out and pushed the door closed really hard. but he turned to come back in and.” at this point my dad and I both burst in saying “you told us it was the WIND that slammed the door on the cat and killed him!” Not a particularly pleasant topic and poor kitty and all. but we found it hilarious that mom had hidden what really happened for 20 years and then accidentally let it slip. I can understand why she lied to me, I was a kid, dad didn’t understand why she lied to him (newsflash dad, it was because you were kind of a jerkface back then) and we laughed because the story has been re-told a hundred times about that poor fated kitty and I’ve worried about doors and wind and little animals for years because of it. And what else was I going to do? Get mad at her accidental felinicide? It was an accident, sheesh. She got mad and stomped away. (Uh, mom, if you are reading this… I recognize the behaviour because I’ve done it myself many times. And no one was mad about the cat anyway.)

All night I was struck by the incredible genetic mutation that it took to create me. On one hand you can see where I get my personality traits from. Mom and Dad often pointed out “see, that’s you” or “see where she gets it!” but then my opinions are so very different. But mash the personality traits from the two of them together, stick it in a blender and you will get me.

Something that looks so totally different but bears the same properties.

Hubby held his own, a little too well sometimes, making me grit my teeth and mentally hang on when he started grappling with my dad over a specific topic. Hubby knows what I’m like because our opinions are very similar on many political topics and a few social ones. But I’m tired after 30+ years and don’t feel the need to argue with the parental units about many topics. There are very few things we can agree on.

We agree that my brother’s dog was horrible and mean and needed to be put down; we agree that it’s better for a mom to stay home; we agree that drugs are much worse today (in terms of their chemical composition) than the stuff my parents did; we agree that if God wanted us to worry about homosexuality he would have listed it in the top ten; we agree that my kids are awesome.
 

I could write a book about what we don’t agree on. But there is no point.

I am happy that my kids get to see my dad. I wish he were closer, but he chooses to live where he lives and will probably stay there until the court case is settled. Then he might move to one of the islands off the coast of BC. Back to Pender Island I think. If he gets enough money from the settlement (assuming he wins) then he’ll buy a sailboat. We can probably visit then. Right now he lives somewhere very kid-un-friendly with no room for guests.

Anyway, I needed to get some of these things off my chest. thanks for listening.

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