Showing posts with label in-laws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label in-laws. Show all posts

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Patience Worn Thin

It has been awhile since I witnessed my father-in-law behaving atrociously. I have gotten better at choosing when to interact with J's family and at filtering out the worse of his irritating behavior. He has gotten better at behaving himself, especially in our home, a direct result of J insisting that he conduct himself in a more civilized manner.

Unfortunately, with the upcoming arrival of a new grandchild, the pressure to include myself in more family activities has begun anew and has been gradually ratcheting up over the past few months. As agreeing to allow my mother-in-law host a baby shower on my behalf puts me back on the obligation hook, I reluctantly and not very willingly agreed to accompany J to a family lunch on Sunday.

I chose to ignore the voice in the back of my brain that woke me on Sunday morning, suggesting that lunch at the in-laws was not the best of ideas on this particular day. As I could not find a legitimate reason to back up my sense that it was not going to be a good day, I elected to fulfill my promise to make J happy.

To lunch we went, arriving approximately 45 minutes from the noon hour (planned) and waiting an extra 20 minutes (unplanned) past noon for his siblings to arrive, thus underscoring one of the ongoing irritants of J's family – with the exception of one sibling (who is not J), none of them are capable of arriving for 90% of functions on time.

I filtered it out. I filtered out J's sister using me as an object lesson in fetal development, with her insistence that I describe how “big the baby in my belly (1) was right now” to her three children. Setting aside that my knowledge of an alien at 25 weeks falls under “large enough to be uncomfortable”, my sister-in-law was not content with an estimate of length and weight – she wanted a detailed descriptions of the alien's features. I filtered out the discussion over the relative merits of the different high school football teams and leagues in the area. I filtered out the church talk, the complaints about the federal government giving aid to overseas, faith-based missionary organizations.

I filtered out up to the point of hearing J's father saying “Well we all know why South Africa is receiving aid, with the kind of president we have in the White House”.

I could not filter that out. I called my father-in-law out on the statement. I reminded him that the federal government had been giving aid to faith based charities for at least eight years. I stated that his comment was racist and he should retract it.

He said his comment was not racist and refused to retract. J's brother, who has spouted forth some of the finest poor-oppressed-upper-middle-class-white-man absurdities I have ever heard come out of the mouth of anyone upper middle class white man, vocally expressed that he did not think it was racist either.

Less you believe that I am jumping to conclusions and believe that perhaps my father-in-law was merely implying that South Africa was receiving aid because a Democrat was occupying the White House, I have sat at this man's table at various meals for 14+ years listening such coded statements. This is the man, who upon meeting me for the first time and learning about my ambition to attend graduate school, felt it necessary to illustrate how enlightened he had become by telling me about the events that precipitated his agreement to send his daughter to college. In the late 1980's. (2)

I left the table. I tried to walk out the front door, but it was locked and I could not get it unlocked. After what felt like several minutes of me trying to unlock the damn door, I went out through the garage instead. Once in the backyard, I sat down at a table and cried.

Meanwhile, inside, J was defending my blowup by informing his family that I had spent the last 14+ years politely holding my tongue as his family enthusiastically demonized the people and beliefs that held dear and that whether I had misinterpreted his father's words or not I had reached my limit of tolerance.

Then he came outside, brushed aside my apology for making a scene and ruining lunch and told me that it was braver to stand up for what I believed in then sitting silently and that I had no reason to apologize.

I also apologized to J's father for making a scene and silently endured the humiliation of having another sister-in-law pat my sore abdomen.


(1) The use of anything other than code words for organs used in bodily waste evacuation and reproduction is verboten in front of children in J's extended family, no matter the age of the child. Thus his 23 year old cousin and almost 18 year old nephew hear the same terminology as his 5 year old niece. I know that everyone does it, especially with young children but listening to grown adults use inaccurate biology with children makes me cringe and want to grind my teeth. I blame this on my parents, both nurses, who used biological and medical terms in an indifferent, matter-of-fact manner at the dinner table. The sneaky, snarky, subversive side of me is looking forward to the expressions of horror on the faces of my in-laws when the alien begins using real terms, as I fully intend to pass on the correct terminology, fragile sensibilities of cousins, nieces, nephews, grandparents, in-laws and the parents of the alien's classmates be damned.
(2) And less you wonder why I would marry into such a family, J is definitely the anomaly.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Remedies

Remedy 1:

The waning days of this campaign have been tiresome. As Pennsylvania slips in and out of battleground status, the McCain ads have become increasingly negative and the rhetoric I am hearing has made me almost glad that my current battle with a massive sinus infection has stuffed my ears to the point that I barely hear myself speak, much less anyone else.

But I have found a remedy to the rhetoric. Every time I hear or read something completely asinine, I give money to the Obama campaign. I've only been doing this since October 10 and I have only made three donations, yet I feel as if I am doing something to combat the assholeness swirling around me.

My first donation came in the guise of a $15.00, long sleeved, Obama 08 campaign t-shirt. This purchase was precipitated by my accidental involvement in an email thread wherein the originator of the thread sent a link to a pro-Obama article, but forgot to BCC the recipients. As I was disinterested in a flame war, I sat back and practiced deep breathing in an attempt to lower my rising blood pressure. Yes, I should have hit the delete button, but I could not bring myself to look away from the train wreck.

It was the last message of the thread that provoked me to walk across the street to the Squirrel Hill Obama campaign office and purchase the t-shirt, as the sender stated “he looks good when he stands next to McCain on TV, and plenty of women will vote for him”.

Nice to know that a complete stranger has such a low opinion of women. The ritual of purchasing the t-shirt and chatting with the staff was soothing. “I know you are a Democrat” one staffers remarked as I waited behind a couple of middle aged women purchasing yard signs. “Because Democrats are patient, and you have that patient look about you”.

Fifteen dollars to Obama.

My second purchase was yesterday. Sick of the negative ads and given an opportunity to do a good deed, I trundled across the street to the campaign office, purchased $20.00 worth of swag in the form of a t-shirt, rally sign and buttons (including a “Steelers fan for Obama” pin) and mailed the entire bundle to a child in Canada.

Donation three came tonight, on the heels of one of my coworkers commenting that a vote for Obama was a vote for communism. Or was it socialism? The conversation began innocently enough, with him asking us if we were as ready for the election to be over as he was. Then it veered into crazy territory.

Presumably I will receive a special edition car magnet and possibly a t-shirt for my donation. When I suggested that I affix the magnet to a hidden spot on my right wing conservative B-I-L's car, as some sort of reverse voodoo curse, J rolled his eyes.

My only regret is that I did not do this sooner. I could have picked up a sterling silver Obama charm. Unfortunately, the website is sold out.

Remedy 2:

In addition to campaign fatigue, I have a sinus infection. Not just a little infection, but a full blown, head stuffing, ear clogging, sore throat, slowly losing my voice and developing a cough infection. So massive that I broke down and started taking full doses of day and night time cold medicines in the hope of mitigating some of the symptoms. I'm drinking so much water and herbal tea that I'm only sleeping three hours maximum at a stretch because that is the longest I can go without needing to use the bathroom. And I worry that one night I will not be able to wake up on time.

And none of it is working all that well. The cold medicine takes almost an hour to kick in and the effects last far less than the four hour claim on the box and makes me sick to my stomach. I'm having a little more success dealing with the sore throat with periodical doses of ibuprofen, but worry about how much damage I'm doing to my liver. The anesthetic throat drops are not all that numbing.

So tonight, in a last effort to bring myself some relief, I elected to experiment with a home remedy known as “irrigating the sinuses”. In other words, I shot warm saltwater up my nose.

I would not call it the most unpleasant experience, but the feel and taste of warm saltwater dripping down my throat into my mouth does not rank as the end all/be all of fun times. It did nothing to ease the pressure in my left ear, but did leave a pleasant tingling sensation and an urge to sneeze.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Just Too Much

The problem with choosing a non-medicinal form of therapy for depression is that it is far too easy to get derailed when injured and much more difficult to force myself back into a routine that I know is good for me, especially when the derailment is followed with enough stress to push me back into a downward spiral.

Hobbled (literally, I could barely walk for several days) two weeks ago after a 20 mile bike ride by a massive, multi-day muscle spasm that pushed on the sciatic nerve, I was forced to stop exercising, pop ibuprofen and pray for relief from the pain. One of our friends, a licensed, non-practicing PT, was kind enough to run an ultrasound on the affected muscle, which bought me much needed relief and a very good, albeit embarrassing story, to share within our circle of acquaintances.

My self-esteem has taken a small beating as a potential job dematerialized after three intensive interviews. Asked to submit a technical writing sample “with some length” I spent part of my weekend holiday and late into the wee hours of Sunday crafting a sample that was non-proprietary. I received an email Monday morning that the potential employer would contact me shortly to set up a final interview – then nothing. Apparently my carefully crafted sample was a resounding disaster.

Normally I would not think too much of it. But emotionally vulnerable, weary of the various layers of crap at my current place of employment and simple physical tiredness have taken its toll on my psyche. Mysteriously vague emails from J were not reassuring. I returned home cranky and moody to discover J experiencing the same level of negativity as myself, without the spectator of depression hanging over his head.

It has been quiet for too long, which is the only reason I can come up with for J's father calling him before eight AM to complain that I had not yet send a thank-you note for my birthday gifts or for my in-laws attendance at the non-birthday party, held on my birthday, at my parents home ten days ago.

The party which was held in honor of my twin brother making it halfway through his second tour in the service of Operation-Whatever-the-Hell-the-Shrub-is-Calling-it-Now. My mother deliberately withheld the information that it was our birthday from the guests. Some knew, most did not. One friend, upon learning that it was our birthday, asked my mother why she had not mentioned it.

In turn, my mother chastised me for “asking for gifts” and said that I was too old to be behaving like that. As all I had done was tell the friend that I had spent the prior day celebrating early with J and some close friends, I found the conversation a tad bewildering. Later that evening she also told me that my shorts were ugly.

And she wonders why I don't come home much.

As I had not wanted anything to do with the party and only changed plans to make my parents happy, J knew that this complaint would make me irate. His attempt to withhold information about the conversation from me was an admirable, but unachievable goal when both of us are equally at odds with the universe. After venting my displeasure and suggesting that J's father needed to have his head examined* I pulled out the cards (as I had intended to write notes to everyone that week) and wrote out a thank you.

I realized after I sealed the envelope that I forgot to mention one of the gifts. No doubt he will be happy to have the additional ammunition in his next round of complaints about me.

Is it ironic that a thank you note from one of J's second cousins, for the graduation gift we gave to her four weeks ago, was in the mail today?

On the upside I spent this past weekend in Chicago. Photographs will be forthcoming (defined as whenever I get around to gathering all the equipment necessary to download the photos to my laptop). My first trip, ever, to such a lovely, lively city and I had a lovely tour guide, in the guise of Lisa and her friend Glenn, to show me around.

Friday I took trip to the Art Institute of Chicago to view its beautiful (temporarily limited) collection of Impressionists paintings. I sat in front of Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte and listened to my thoughts bounce from the song Sunday in the Park with George to The Simpson's infamous interpretation of the same painting. I wandered through the other galleries to take some photographs.

I met up with Lisa and Glenn (at the Bean, natch) for dinner at Taste of Chicago and some blues. Saturday was some work in the morning for the failed job application, a trip to Shaler's for lunch, then off to U.S. Cellular Field to see the White Sox play the Cubs.** More fighting the mob at Taste of Chicago (I blame Stevie Wonder) for dinner and the sounds of the Orchestra Baobab at the pavilion.

Sunday was sleep, more writing, a plane ride home and the aforementioned late night.

*In all seriousness. He had a stroke last year and has gone from friendly control freak to petty and mean spirited.
**First time in recent memory that I actually saw a competitive baseball game.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

My Lunch with the In-Laws

This past Saturday I got myself semi-dolled up (jeans and a nice sweater) and drove to a distant Pittsburgh suburb to have lunch with the MIL, SIL's and various members of the MIL's extended family. It is called the “Cousin's Lunch” and it is a women-only gathering held four times a year.

I don't go very often, as I feel like a visitor in a foreign country, one that can never quite get the customs right and lapses into silence and pointing less she inadvertently offend her kind hosts. My latest journey was no exception, as the primary topics of discussion were priests, mass schedules and church youth groups, with a brief foray in the hazard of hosting an outdoor birthday party for a teenager.

Late Sunday afternoon, J commented on how it had not felt like much of a weekend, as he spent all day Saturday hanging drywall with a friend. He reluctantly retracted that statement when I pointed out to him that he probably had a better time hanging drywall then I did at lunch.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

A Little from Column A, A Little from Column B, C and D...

J's surgery is in two days and I am grasping at the humor straws to stay calm as his parents continue in their assault to come to Pittsburgh and make a nuisance of themselves on Thursday.

J's parents fall into the category of world's worst hospital visitors. I submit as evidence the incident in which J's older brother shattered his elbow while snowboarding. When J and I arrived at the hospital it was very late and we were told his brother was sleeping after several hours of surgery and a massive dose of painkillers. When we informed his parents that we would come back the next day at an earlier time, they insisted we go in and wake him up.

After some discussion, it was decided that J would respectfully decline his parents offer to be there during his surgery and ask them to come the day after. I was upfront in my objections - they are not very well behaved in hospitals, the surgical center is an outpatient only clinic and not very large and it would create additional stress for me to run interference with the hospital staff while preventing his parents from taking over entirely.

I offered to go to work and let his parents take him instead, which J refused, saying “I want you there with me”. He called and gave them a detailed verbal description of what would happen and followed it up with a detailed email restating the same things he said verbally.

His parents have now come up with a different strategy, calling and offering to help me, which is really J's parent-speak for trying to find a polite way around our prior request to come the day after. I am very aware that they want to be at the surgical center to make themselves feel better, as they have an inherent mistrust of hospitals and become very stressed whenever a family member must be admitted for any reason. But those are precisely the times when they need to put their trust in the spouse of their child, which they are loathe to do.

This all leads me back to frantically trying to find humor in the most awful of things.

Exhibit A: was a brief news report on the discovery of a body split in half and left in multiple garbage bags. The report, in full:

A passer-by made a gruesome discovery in Point Breeze this morning -- a body split into two and left inside plastic bags at Fifth Avenue and Simonton Street.
Police believe the bags had been there for a few days.
Right now, even the gender of the victim is unknown.

The edge of hysteria in the last sentence had me gasping for air for several minutes.

Exhibit B: comes from my parents, on a two week vacation in Branson, MO. They are very excited to have scored tickets to the comedic stylings of Yakov Smirnof. At 9:30 in the morning.

My parents have officially jumped the shark and are no longer cool. Period. And I am a very bad child for making fun of them, but Yakov Smirnof at 9:30 in the morning is too precious to pass up.

Exhibit C: There is no exhibit C. I purchased a bicycle this afternoon, a red Cannondale Comfort Féminine to take on the rails to trails around Pittsburgh, since the rentals were far too heavy for me to continue using.