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I am still tired from the week and yesterday. And even though today is Sunday, it won't be a day of rest because there's church, choir practice, and church again. Plus my mother is visiting me this weekend. Which in theory is fine, I asked her to come see me. But it adds to my tiredness.
Yesterday Jeannie and Chad came up to see me and Mama. A long time friend of Jeannie's saw me last week and I arranged for her to drop by while they were here, as a surprise. My sister and I are very different people. We look at life differently, we respond to life differently. There is often a LOT of friction between us because we are both strong-willed individuals... and because I won't put up with being treated poorly by her. Jeannie is a wonderful woman and I love her very much. She is also an obsessive-compulsive, anal-retentive person. Translation.... Control Freak. We all know and recognize this fact. Sometimes, she'll even admit to it. The last three times Jeannie and I have been around each other, we have had conflict with one another, but yesterday we didn't have a fight. Although we could have if things had gone differently.
When Paige knocked on the front door and I let her in, I came back into the living room and expected to see surprise and pleasure on Jeannie's face because her friend was there. I didn't see that... I saw anger and displeasure. I saw a fight brewing. I could hear her saying, "How dare you invite someone to come over in the middle of my visit to you! I came to see you and you bring someone here I don't care about seeing and waste my time with them!" And she was on the verge of being furious. It was written clearly on her face. Later on in the day, I confronted her about it and she agreed. She told me "Yes", she was angry because "I know how you are!" but after she recognized that it was Paige, "it was okay".
Once she did recognize Paige, it was a different story. She jumped up and gave her a big hug and they spent the next three hours catching up. The thing that gets me is that had Jeannie not liked Paige so much, I would have caught hell from her after Paige left. Because it wasn't in Jeannie's "Plan" for the day. Because if things don't go according to Jeannie's plan they are "bad"; hence I would be bad since I hadn't gotten permission to live or act outside of the "Plan". And believe me, she would have let me know that she was unhappy with me in no uncertain terms. She would have been ugly about it. But because Jeannie liked Paige, "it was okay". It rankles. I'm glad we didn't have a fight yesterday, it would have been a big one because I had no tolerance left in me after the week of dealing with the insane people at work. I wish Jeannie were different. I wish she was able to have more flexibility in dealing with life. I wish she were able to relax and enjoy things as they come. I wish she didn't make her family miserable when her agenda isn't met. It makes it very hard to enjoy her. Which is sad to me, because there is a lot of good about her to enjoy.
I did enjoy Paige's children, though. They are five and three, boy and girl. And talk about energy! Whew! They never stopped talking, never stopped moving. I sat in the corner of the room and shortly both of the kids were talking to me, sitting on me, climbing on me, tickling me, being tickled, being hugged. They were great kids! Smart, well-behaved, and obedient. Not perfect, by any means. They would start to do things I didn't want them to do and I would have to stop them. But they stopped. They loved Honey, but they made her nervous. I had to remind the little boy not to rush her or chase her. She was good when they were petting her but after I let her out, she wouldn't come back in until the kids had left. Made me laugh. Chad opened the door and tried to coax her in, but she wasn't having any of it; she wasn't about to come back in to be with the loud, small people. I enjoyed those children! I liked playing with them... I liked meeting their needs. At one point the little girl announced to me that she was thirsty. So we went to the kitchen to get her some water...where she announced that she was hungry. I was like, "You're hungry?" She nodded and told me earnestly. " I want some candy." I had to work hard not to laugh. I offered her some fruit because I didn't have any candy and she was happy with that. So I dished her up some cantelope and strawberries and told her to sit at the table. She didn't want to sit at the table. To which I replied, Well, if you want some of this fruit, you have to sit at the table. Do you want the fruit? Yes. Yes, what? Yes ma'am. So she sat at the table and ate her fruit. Two seconds later the little boy came into the kitchen, thirsty and hungry. As I was fixing his water, I told him to go look at the fruit his sister was eating to see if he wanted some of that. Sure enough, he did. So they both sat at the table eating their snack. I enjoyed doing that with them.
Later on the little girl asked Chad if she could put all my couch throw pillows on the floor to do somersaults on. She had lined them up in a row when I saw them, but I didn't want my throw pillows used like that, so I told her she had to pick them up. Oh, my! She didn't like that. She told me the floor didn't feel as good as the pillows to roll on! Yes, I know, but I don't want these pillows to be on the floor. Her little eyebrows drew down, her eyes got mad and her mouth settled into a stubborn frown. I had no problem understanding that she did not like what I was saying. I explained I had some other pillows she could use, but not these. Would she like them? No, she wanted these pillows. To which I told her, your options are to use the floor or to use the other pillows. What did she want? Other pillows. And then she was fine. I enjoyed even that interaction with the girl. Her parents have done a good job with them.
I think I would be a good mom. Oh well, guess I'll have to settle for being a good Aunt Lee Lee. It was so much fun to pass around hugs when they were leaving. Sweet, affectionate kids.
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