Annoying inheritance

My father has a very annoying habit. In the middle of a conversation, he will interrupt with "Oh Chaaaa-riast!" (as in taking the Lord's name in vain). He will then say "oh it's just something I said."  "When?" "In December 1957!"

I woke up at about 5am today with the same problem - not from 1957, decades before my birth - but from several things that were either said or done yesterday.

Among the doozies -
  • A debacle about who was coming last night. I think I hurt my friend's feelings. :-(
  • I asked another friend if she is still in contact with her ex-husband. It went over so poorly that she ignored the question completely, while another friend gawked at me for my poor taste.
  • My lack of organization skills - dinner wasn't ready until almost 8pm when we were supposed to meet friends at the mall (see bullet point 1). At 8:20 we were finished with dinner and the mall closed at 9pm so we took a rain check, however this was a logistical issue because then we didn't meet up with friends who didn't eat with us.
  • Friend A wanted to eat out, friend B wanted to eat in. Friend B ended up NOT coming, so Friend A was disappointed that we didn't go out and even commented, not once, but twice...
  • My daughter's table manners were so awful that I was actually embarrassed.  She was being completely obnoxious. As if she had taken a silly pill and all her common sense had gone out the window. Totally inappropriate.  My guest even told her daughter "this is how NOT to behave!" And that she was glad we didn't go out for a meal if this was how she would behave (not an exact quote). I was mortified!
Part of me wants to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head until next year.  I don't want to face these things.

Part of me knows that in the big picture none of this matters. Even the table manners issue will work itself out.
But another part of me knows that it will bug me for a while...

Let's hope I didn't inherit my father's habit of reliving unpleasant conversations 50 years after they took place. I don't want my life to be like that.  I don't even want my Saturday to be like that. OK, chin up.... it's a new day! I don't mind doing yesterday's dishes - which I need to do - I do mind reliving yesterday's faux pas.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New decade new post

It's the new decade and I'm already a little unsure about its start. N bonked his head and we ended up in the ER for a STAPLE. It was pretty inhumane - but much faster than stitches. I am directly dreading when it gets pulled out on Saturday! Then this morning the alarm didn't wake us, not because I didn't set it, but because I didn't check the volume level and of course it was silent. Everyone got to school as close to on time as to not call it tardy, but N needs a few minutes in the morning to get his act together if he is going to finish his morning work on time. I am pretty sure his teacher thinks I am a flake of a Mom who can't get her kid to school on time! Flake or not, I spent most of the weekend with N (I brought him to see my Dad, C stayed here for a birthday party and some quality Daddy time). He had a great weekend, despite the ER visit. N loved that I let him run wild where I never thought I would. In a pinch for some kid fun on a cold day?
Read more

What not to say....

My good friend posted on Facebook yesterday that one of her kids' teachers said, " Ok. You all need to stop talking now. I hate this class already." As of now she has 20 comments. Several comments were negative towards tenure (the program where teachers who have worked for 3 years in their position get a "job for life" and it is nearly impossible to fire them). I certainly understand resentment towards tenure. However, I also understand the comments - several left by teachers - saying that this isn't indicative of how the vast majority of teachers feel or teach. Some, like me, begged her to contact the school (I said she should bring it higher, to the Assistant Superintendent). She said her kid didn't want her to. What would have I done? I would have called. Immediately! It isn't in my nature to wait and see. I'm hot headed and I just can't help myself.  Would that have been in the best interest of my child? Probably not. It would be
Read more

Why I'm Voting for Barry Walker

Image
A long time ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away... ... I ran for a School Board. It is not a position to take lightly or to vote for "just anyone".  You've seen the signs... Barry Walker is running a tough, but honest campaign. It's not easy when your main opponent is an incumbent with strong political ties and a tendency to play by his own rules. In fact when I ran against him years ago, he used the Middle School directory to solicit votes. As an attorney and a board member - or even as a parent who can read - he should have known that this was verboten , since a "not for solicitation" clause is printed on all school directories. Misuse discourages families from including their information in the future.  As the saying goes, "it's easier to get forgiveness than permission." Maybe I'm jealous? Since I wrote the elementary school's directory and had every single email on my computer, I was tempted to do the same - it would have take
Read more