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| | I am a Terrible Person Part XVIIRemember when I was whining about the disguised babysitting? This same nice woman took ALL THREE of my kids last night. True, it was only for one hour, whereas I had her child for five, including lunch. But, nevertheless, she was gracious enough to invite both siblings to stay when my middle child had a play date with her son. The most remarkable aspect of the whole thing: my daughter wanted to stay! My daughter, who is an indepedence/dependence condundrum, and does everything BY SELF!!!!! yet refuses to walk ten feet away from me if she can help it, actually WANTED to stay.
I have a like/don't know/dislike/like-again relationship with this woman. I can't quite figure her out. When I first met her, I really liked her. She's not from here, which is always a huge plus in my book. She seems pretty smart. We have other things in common too, like early-child PDD diagnoses and the gluten-free diet. She keeps her religion to herself, which always makes me much more comfortable. Her son is a sweet kid and likes my kid, so that's a plus. On the other hand: around other women, she's different. She comes across as socially ambitious. Maybe she is, I don't know. She happens to be the person who made the comment about my house sufficing "for now, and later when you need more space you can sell it in a heartbeat!" She has sort of...snubbed me...in the past, in a weird, subtle way, in front of other people. But then, on the other hand, when she dropped her kid off for a play date, she started explaining why he was wearing Croc "knockoffs" instead of "real" Crocs. Like I care!! Like I even know whether my own kids are wearing knockoffs or name-brand ANYTHING, much less Crocs. I can't even keep track of where we got half the stuff around here. When someone says something like that to me, I figure they must care what I think. Or maybe they care about the possibility that I'll tell someone else their kid was wearing knockoff Crocs. Do people do that kind of thing? I don't know. I'm not much of a gossiper by nature. Plus I'm the one always wearing the substandard clothes. I HATE spending money on clothes. Almost as much as I hate spending money on cars. I used to think that's because I have good values, and don't waste money on status items. Then I started thinking, nah, I just don't care to spend money on things that other people care about. I'd rather spend money on myself, going on trips, buying nice things for my home, etcetera. That probably makes me selfish. After all, if I were more altruistic, I'd strive to be easy on the eyes for the benefit of others.
I saw her running today, while I was driving by in the minivan, and she was running FAST. I don't think I could run that fast even if a thousand snapping wolves were on my heels. And I mean, what would be the point? Wolves can outrun humans, after all. I'd have no chance, if one thousand of them were on my heels, snapping, no less.
What will I do if my daughter grows into a lovely young girl who wants to be a cheerleader and wear name-brand clothes and go to a huge football university somewhere? Number one, how can I possibly help her, and number two, how will I have a good relationship with her if she turns out to be my opposite? What if she is disappointed in me, for being absolutely clueless about the difference between name-brand and knockoff Crocs?
In the meantime, thank goodness, it's still summer. Ah, how I love summer. I wish we had year-round summer. I wish my whole life was summer. I wish I didn't have to finish this research assignment I've been dodging for seven months. I've put it off so long I can't possibly charge for it. Now I just have to do it to prove I'm not a complete disappointment as a human being.
| | | Posted 7/23/2008 10:42 PM - 17 views - 7 comments
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