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30 May, 2006 - 10:07 p.m.
playing catch-up, part 8

i'd said to my sister that mom hadn't called me back, etc., and that if she couldn't call me back, i wasn't going to go out of my way to take her to lunch. so [sister] said she would see what she could do. i never heard from mom. until about 9 pm, when i got a text message saying her battery was dead on her phone and just now recharged and we could do lunch at whatever time, place, etc. well, i'd spoken to her over the phone when we agreed that we would meet for lunch today at 1. this has nothing to do with a text message, like my mom is implying. she just failed to contact me. my response was that i came to [city where she lives, 70 milse from here], waited, and left her card on the counter at my stepdad's house, and went home. and she's sooooo sorry. nerves, etc., are her excuse. you know what? it's not nerves. it's simple rudeness.

good thing i wasn't counting on her to call me. the boy offered to come to [city where mom lives] with me to collect my stuff, as my stepdad would be less likely to go into detail and harass me about my mom if he was there. so he helped me gather all of my stuff from that house (i want to call it "mom's", but she doesn't live there any longer) and load it up in my car. my stepdad did minimal discussion. he actually took the opportunity to go to the grocery store, as he knew we were there and could tell him if mom had come to the house to take her stuff, which she didn't.

my only advice was to tell my stepdad to consult a lawyer about what rights he has as a spouse to get mom some help. i want what's best for my sister. and shacking up with her boyfriend at 17 after dropping out of school ain't it. this puts the responsibility back on my stepdad to take action or not. and removes me from the decision-making process.

so we went from there to my dad's... he'd offered to fix my sewing machines and i had some cushions that i'd gotten suckered into recovering for my stepmother (but couldn't because my sewing machines don't work, so i drew out some patterns and can make them when dad fixes them) that i needed to drop off anyway. so the boy got to see firsthand the arrival, my greetings to people, and sitting there while small children run wild and while the family (except dad) ignores me. my half-sister (the one who married our stepbrother) did the usual and waited a while before isolating herself to a location away from me.

[funny story... one day i went into every room she would go into. she would leave that one and go to a different room. i would wait a few minutes and follow her. after a couple hours, her husband came home and she went outside and i heard her yelling at him about me. lol.]

anyway... so we hung out a while. my dad's gotten better over the years. he and i are doing better about talking to each other and being there for each other. then i couldn't take the ill-behaved children, so the boy and i left. i'd taken him to KFC for lunch before leaving [city where i live] (chicken bowls... oh my god. i love them.) and after leaving dad's, i swung by the A&W and got us some rootbeer floats. oh hell yeah.

but yes. the drama today was minimal. my boy had my back and ran interference with the stepdad. my mom didn't call me, so i didn't have to deal with that. And i had someone there to not only help me move my shit, but to give me company while i hung out and did my daughterly duty and dropped by dad's.

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