Parents - Who Needs Them
I never talk about much personal here but I'm going to this time. My parents have been acting increasingly weirdly over the last few years. We've never gotten along well and I went for a long time, several years, without speaking to them. It seems that it should have stayed that way. They don't approve of my husband and have tried more than once to break us up before we were married.
This weekend though they managed to orchestrate a showdown in which I had to pick between them and my husband. I made a promise to my husband that includes "for better or for worse" and I chose to honor that. I'm pretty much the lucky panda with my husband and I know it. He's not shy about doing laundry, cleaning house, or making dinner. Trade that for two slightly kooky drama-junkies who just aren't very nice to anyone, including each other? I think not.
They have one friend on the planet and I use the term loosely. She lives next door to my parents and freely admits to the other neighbors that she says and does things she knows will cause my parents to fight. This woman has said that this amuses her and her husband. This is who my parents have as their lone friend in all the world. They do all kinds of things for this woman in spite of the fact that the other neighbors have gone to the trouble to tell my parents that this woman doesn't really like them and is in fact, quite mean to them.
I've taken a lot of crap off my parents. I can't even begin to tell you the ways in which they've managed to hurt my feelings. I'll see if I can give you an example. My dad is a big history buff but doesn't have cable. I know that he would adore the History Channel, if he'd just try it. I got him a satellite dish for his Birthday and was planning on buying him a year's service for Father's Day, since that's not much later. I had already made arrangements for someone I know to come and install it. What does he do? He has himself a screaming fit about not having his house taken away from him because he owes money on a satellite dish and tosses a rather expensive gift that I worked really hard for into the garage, never to be seen again. Later he gives it to one of their neighbors he knows I don't like and I get to hear this jackass gloating over what a nice system it is.
My parents have also cost me a significant amount of money over the years. My mother has a penchant for pulling out things that don't belong to her and giving them away. She got into my art supplies, which she'd asked me to borrow, and gave my $50 set of PrismaColor water color pencils to a 3rd grader who wanted colored pencils for school. She gave away a $300 day pack to this same kid so he could have a backpack for school. Mind you, this kid's parents both make 6 figure salaries so he's not some charity case.
When the IT bubble when bust, I moved back in with my folks and had one hell of a time finding a job. Then I had a friend call me a home and I found out why. It seems that even knowing that I was looking for a job, my parents were still just unspeakably rude to anyone who called for me. I found out later that my mother cost me several employment opportunities by pretending to me on the phone and being awful to people - cursing at them.
Now she's really done it though. I have one prize possession - a 1956 Chevy pick up. I had it my parents' house so that my Dad and I could work on it. He's not felt like it much so it's basically been stored for the last couple of years. It was a bit of basket case when I acquired it and now I've found that she's been giving bits of it away too. I should have known something was up when she gave way the $200 cover I had on it and replaced with a very inferior tarp. When I asked her where it went, she said that she gave it "to the boy down the street". Well, the crappy cover they put on it tore and the city has realized that there is an inoperable vehicle in my parents back yard. They sent a nasty-gram telling us that we had 2 weeks to move it. I've now had to arrange to have it towed and stored until I can figure out what to do with it.
I rent a trailer and everything I need to move the beast including a winch and go to get it. The nice surprise when I get there - I'm now missing some of the chrome, which it had. Cash value - $500. I'm missing the entire instrument cluster. Cash value - $1000. I'm missing the door panel off the inside of the driver's door. Cash value -??? Can't find another one. I'm missing a fender. Cash value - $750. I'm so mad, I don't even know if I can keep typing.
Since everyone else on the planet rates higher to them than me, my thought is that they can have everyone else. They may be my parents but there's no law that says I have to speak to them.