Back home after Thanksgiving at my sisterâs place. It was fairly tolerable, but boy does Sis have issues. She throws pity parties daily and is always âpoor me, I have no friends, I hate my job, my daughter doesnât love me, woe woe woe.â Sheâs insufferable.
The breaking point came Thursday night when I made an ugly comment about her dog. Itâs one of those tiny, nasty Chihuahua mixes, and it hates Niece. It snarls and growls whenever she comes near. Now, because my sister is a terrible mom, she not only keeps that animal but clearly favors it. Sis is one sick fuck.
So the damn dog growls and lunges at Niece, snatching a half eaten roll from her hand. Niece just laughs and keeps walking, but I am aghast, so I say something like, âWhy do you keep that thing around?â I mean, if it was me, the first time that dog growled at Niece, Iâd dropkick it in to oblivion.
Sis goes off on my âincredibly personal insultâ and sobbingly declares, âThis dog is all I have!â
And I just want to roundhouse kick her in the face, because, excuse me? Here we are to celebrate a holiday in your beautiful home, playing with your amazing daughter, eating a delicious dinner before your husband goes to work at his fulltime, secure job with benefits. And that gross rat-faced dog is âall you have?â
So Mom goes off on her and I quickly exit the scene, although later Mom also admonishes me, which I think is wrong and unfair, but hey, story of my life. I am always to blame for Sisâs dysfunctional sensitivity and insecurity.
The dog could have BIT that baby. But yeah, no, Iâm the bad guy. Fucking shit.
So Sis has serious mental issues, and sheâs going to totally fuck up Niece, and I canât do anything about it. It is so sad. But I am not responsible for Sis and her choices. Her life is her life. I am not going to carry her.
Anyway. Really, aside from that, it was an ok visit. Dad mostly behaved, and I mostly behaved. We decorated the outside of the house (Sis did not, because sheâs a lazy fat fuck). We had lots of food, but I think I did ok, eating wise. Mom felt the need to point out everything BIL ate, which was a shit ton of food. Yes, Mom, I know he is also a disgusting fat slob. Yes, if he keeps eating that way, he wonât live to be 30. We can only hope!
And I had lots of fun with Niece. We played with play dough, colored, and ran laps around the house, with me sometimes chasing her, and her sometimes chasing me. She is still very interested in books and balls, and I can get her to count to five. She also really likes puzzles, and we played with her big push car outside when it was warm.
It was fun, and she is cute. But, she is a toddler, so there were some temper tantrums. Sheâs willful and itâs hard to get her to eat. She was obsessed with the cupcakes Mom brought for my birthday, and threw a huge tantrum on Friday night because she wanted (another) one. I was horrified, watching her roll on the floor and throw things, but Mom just laughed.
âListen to that fake cry!â she said. âSo fake.â
âI canât tell. How do you know she hasnât hurt herself?â
âHer cries all sound different. This one is very fake.â
And sure enough, her fit stopped, and her face wasnât red and her eyes werenât wet. She just looked pouty, and Mom cackled. âSee? You little faker! This isnât my first rodeo, you canât fool me.â
So although I really had fun playing with Niece, I realized that I am absolutely, 100 percent, completely totally unabashedly certain I do not want kids, ever. I just canât handle it. The kid absolutely consumes your life and dominates all of your attention. She rules the roost. Every doorway has a baby gate. You canât use half the kitchen, because every cabinet and drawer within her reach must be kept empty or baby proofed. The beautiful built-in bookshelves in the den are covered in chickenwire, else she pulls everything off the shelves. She controls everything on the TV. And you just have to watch her so closely, and do everything for her. Endless laundry, endless baths, endless cleaning, endless cooking. And she supplies endless noise, endless messes, endless energy, endless drama. I watched my mom nimbly take up Thanksgiving dinner, dancing around Niece who ran under her feet the entire time. I watched Niece kick Mom in the face during a diaper change. I watched Niece throw her plate of mac and cheese against the wall and scream.
There is no way I want that. Ever. No man on this planet could convince me to have a kid. Nothing is ever going to change my mind.
Yeah, Niece gave me sweet smiles and hugs. Her giggle is incredible. Watching her intently focus on her puzzle pieces is amazing. And when she cuddles with Mom on the couch to watch a movie, Mom looks so content, so happy.
But no. No way. That is not the life choice for me. If you want kids, have them. But my uterus is not available. My tits are for show, not work. My home is exactly the way I want it, and I wonât change it for others. My life is mine and no one elseâs.
So yeah. Typical holiday.
Traffic was atrocious coming home; it poured rain across the entire state for the full seven hours. But it was a relief to be home in my quiet space with my cats and my books and my bed.
Tomorrow, back to work, bleh. I have random odds and ends I need to do, bits and pieces of in progress projects that are held up by others. It will be nice, though, to see MC, and I hope M is in a better mood.
Tonorrow night, and next Monday night too, I have a ticket for an informal lecture as part of this series Profs and Pints. Itâs at a bar in Dupont, so I will metro in to the city and walk a few blocks. I am trying to go out, to do things. I donât know if I will manage to talk to people, but I am going to give it a try. Tomorrowâs subject is race and evolution.
Tuesday is my birthday. Blargh, whatever. I told M I donât want to do anything. Secretly I hope MC remembers, although he wonât. My Idiot Bossâs birthday is the day after mine, so I am sure she will come over and blather about it. I donât want anyone to acknowledge it, just him! Last year he was the only one who knew for some reason (a list of everyoneâs birthdays is in the kitchen, but I donât know what prompted him to look at it), and he came over to where I was sittingâI had stupidly been moved to the other quad for a few weeks so I wasnât with my teamâand he asked, quietly, âIs today your birthday?â When I said yes he said, âHappy birthday,â all softly and earnestly, and he winked, and I swooned and came a little, because I am that tightly wound.
Where was I going with this?
Anyway, Sis gave me a lovely photo collage of Niece reading. Dad gave me $500, which I will put toward Iceland debt, or Christmas, or maybe Peru. (Peru is in jeopardy but I donât want to discuss that right now.) He also gave me an ugly Christmas sweater with a cat on it, which I found quite funny and will legit wear to work. Mom forgot her gift and was very upset about it, though I assured her it didnât matter and she could mail it later.
32. Getting to be an old maid.
So yeah, thereâs a fairly complete update of life right now. I may take a nap now, just because I can.