Sunday

It has been a gloomy, rainy, sunshineless day today. I went out for the usual two walks but both of them were only 30 minutes apiece and the second one was more like a stroll than anything else until I got so chilly I had to pick the pace up or freeze. The temperature today has been in the middle 40’s but with no sunshine and rain showers all day, walking has not been the fun it usually is. Anyway, I did it and that is what is important.

Fred got a phone call today from his older daughter. She told him that she was coming to see him for Thanksgiving. Now, when he had called both his girls, he thought he had made it quite clear to them both that he didn’t want them to come. Apparently she thought that meant for the surgery date. No, he made it very clear that although he loves both his daughters and all three of his grandchildren, having them come and visit us is a source of stress for both of us. Normally, we can take it and when the company has gone home, we enjoy our quietness again. But this time he had to be really adamant. He told her that he has been  keeping his mental equilibrium pretty well before the surgery, but he could not take any stress between now and then. He didn’t ask her not to come. He TOLD her she was NOT to come. 

After he had put the phone down, I told him he was being much nicer than I would have been. As I realized what she was telling him {I told him}, I wanted to snatch the phone away from him and say, “Ummm, B? Exactly what part of ‘Don’t come’ is it that you are having a problem with?” He mentioned that B. has always been a control freak and bossed her few-minutes-younger twin sister D. around all their school lives. In high school when the younger sister was asked why she took it, she cheerfully replied, “Oh, I let her say what I should do because it makes her happy. Then I go ahead and do what *I* want to do!”

For Thanksgiving we have decided we are going out and so on Friday Fred called a local place and made a reservation for us. Then he asked me if I would mind if we invited his friend Bill T. to eat with us if he didn’t have any plans. This was the man who gave Fred a home for one and a half years when he walked out of his marriage when his girls were through college and married. Bill is a nice guy but he cannot say goodbye and leave! We have invited him over to eat with us before, and I have finally excused myself and gone to bed! Anyway, Fred really wanted to invite Bill, so, of course, I agreed. He called Bill up and found that he had nowhere special planned to go on Thanksgiving Day and invited him and Bill accepted. I would be a little peeved if he invited him for Christmas because Christmas with just the two of us is important to me. Thanksgiving is not a holiday I grew up with and so it doesn’t have special memories for me. When I was getting a divorce my ex made big noises about how he wanted the kid to be with him on T’Giving. No problem as long as I got him for Christmas so we were both satisfied.

Until later…