August 3, 2010
My relationship with Meredyth is complicated. She is my oldest child, she remembers the breakup of my marriage to her father the most, and she was forced to grow up quickly when we left. It was just her, Keith, me, and the unknown-baby-on-the-way (later to be known as Emily.)
No one has ever seen me at my worst more than Meredyth. And that has had lots of repercussions. The biggest was when, after eleven years of begging and pleading to move back to Ontario, I let her.
Whether or not that was a good decision is water under the bridge. What happened has happened and if I could do it all over again, I can't say that I wouldn't do it again.
She is so angry with me. I don't know what to do with this, except hope that with time, patience and maturity, that anger will dissipate. Or at least we'll be able to figure out how to deal with it.
But for now it's there, and sometimes it's hard to avoid it.
She's been here since Saturday, so today was just about the right time for some of the novelty of being home to wear off.
The day started with me taking Keith and Em to the optomestrists to get their new glasses. Then, I had to take Keith to work for 10.30, and pick up my research assistant. We are going to Milwaukee this November and we wanted the paper written before she leaves for graduate school in Ontario.
Home next, because Stephen needed the car. He was asleep. I had to wake him up, and then had took all of us to the mall. My research assistant and I like to work at Starbucks. Mer was going to get her eyebrows done (whatever that means) and Em was going shopping.
Then the first crisis: Em had money in her account, but she wasn't able to pay for her purchases. The reason: she paid for her glasses, which put her over her limit for bank card purchases for the day.
So now the fun time at the mall shopping became not so fun. No means of accessing money and her mother working. Then Mer came in with newly tweezed eyebrows. She, too, had no money. And we were stuck there until Stephen came to pick us up.
Needless to say, my research assistant and I didn`t manage to get much writing accomplished.
And I completely forgot about an apartment viewing and barely made the other one I had scheduled.
Mer was getting herself ready for a job interview. I interpreted this as she was getting ready to drop off her resume to as many places as we could before I had to pick up Keith from work.
And this is where the carefully constructed house of cards I had built came tumbling down.
The interview went well. And when we got back to the car, I asked her where she wanted to go next.
Apparently, if she had known she was going to drop off her resume in more than one place, she would have dressed differently.
And then every wrong thing I had ever done was laid before me. The girl has a temper. This wasn't pleasant, but I wasn't completely surprised. Four days usually does it for the two of us.
But, aware of what was coming or not, I was tired. The child gave me a week`s notice that she was moving back. I dropped everything I was doing and started looking for apartments. I started laying the foundation for possible employment (translation: asking my friends who owned businesses if they were hiring). Then was trying to keep everyone at home calm pending the return of Hurricane Meredyth.
Her quick temper has left some scars. I just need some of that British cream to rub them all away.
Title Lyrics: Another Day in Paradise by Phil Collins
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