Friday evening my wife's sister and brother-in-law arrived for the weekend while I was wrapping up a tiling patch (that didn't completely take). We hadn't gotten our grocery shopping done yet, so dinner out seemed to be the solution, with my wife to shop afterward. They were discussing where to go for dinner when I pointed out that I couldn't join them because of the first Friday service I'd committed to support when the plan had been for them to arrive on Saturday. We agreed they'd pick me up something from where they'd decided to go to dinner. Then I passed the Five Guys on Brown St. and texted them that I'd just pick up a burger there. (Yum.)
The mrs. was still shopping when I arrived home, so I'd eaten my burger and was getting my music ready for Sunday morning's liturgy when she called to say she was almost home. Her arrival came with the announcement that she'd way blown the money budgeted for this pay period for food (though not for the month). We got the groceries in and put away, and I finished setting up my music. Apparently it was at that point that she mentioned that she was headed downstairs to watch television, and I missed the announcement. A while later I went back to the bedroom, where I thought she was getting ready for bed, only to find it empty, at which point I came back out and noticed the downstairs lights on. It turned out she was about 40 minutes into a show that we usually enjoy watching together. She offered to start it over, but I thought I'd rather just go up to bed.
Once there, I realized that I was pretty hurt and upset, not so much by this individual incident as by how it fit into the pattern that has continued for years of her viewing wishes being a higher priority than our time together. It bothered me to the point of not being able to sleep, and I was feeling a bit angry, too. So when she came to bed, I went downstairs, where I realized that I hadn't seen the previous week's episode, either. So I watched them back-to-back - though I'm pretty certain that this doesn't qualify as "binge watching" even at this ridiculous hour of the night. About halfway through the first one, my wife came down and curled up beside me on the sofa. I ended up staying up with her about three hours later than I should've on Friday night, as it was already later than I wanted to be up when she had started watching it without me.
Saturday I had to be up fairly early for a meeting. When I came home I walked down to the local Catholic gift shop for a few cards we needed where, as hoped, I ran into our guests who had stopped there on the way back from a morning walk. When we got home, my SIL's husband and I went to work on the trampoline and enclosure that we'd bought the grandchildren for Christmas and which the weather has just now been getting good enough for. After getting that together over the course of a few hours, I went to pick up some chicken to make one of our favorite dishes for dinner. This was a longer errand that I hoped for due to the busyness of the meat counter. When I arrived home, the younger half of the grandchildren were there, bouncing merrily on the trampoline, each of them coming over to greet me with a thank-you hug. I picked some mint and mixed my annual julep, then bounced with them for a while before the Derby. We had a relatively major meltdown when the oldest of the present grandchildren insisted that it wasn't fair that we wouldn't let her have water on the trampoline this first time, so I missed all but the home stretch of the race, which was probably just as well given that I had no inkling of who was favored or what owner or trainer I might prefer to see rewarded with their horse's victory. The obedience issue addressed, I cooked a late supper - by design, since we'd eaten a late lunch - which all the adults and one of the grandchildren enjoyed, but we were prepared for the latter with an alternate plan for the kids, so that went well. I did up the food prep dishes before taking my SIL up on the offer of washing the rest of them, then sat to read the next chapter and a half of The Horse and His Boy with my granddaughter. I'm so enjoying this chance to spend time with her, though it has been very slow going since they moved out.
While we were reading, my wife put our youngest two granddaughters to bed and, when we were finished reading, their older sister showered and grandma took her and her brother home - where they were to get ready for their first Communion on Sunday afternoon - so that g-ma could have them go to bed and wait for their mom to get home from work. It was a perfect occasion for the younger ones to stay, as g-ma wouldn't have to get them up and moving in the morning. I soon went to bed for the night, though didn't sleep very well, and as usual the sunrise woke me. I was able to complete my daily intercessory prayer time before either of the youngest granddaughters awoke, then had some very nice time with the six-year old before her sister got up. She was momentarily annoyed because g-ma wouldn't let her use the computer, but we took the opportunity to read together instead. Then I got ready for morning Mass while grandma took over babysitting chores.
Mass went very nicely. Our homilist was our adult formation director, and I enjoy what she shares while being simultaneously jealous that she has the opportunity and concerned about the precedent. The music went well, and our friends from Colorado Springs were there, with a promise that they'd be over later for the party after the First Communion service in the afternoon. The service was a little long, though, so I got home after noon and needed to clean some deck furniture and stuff. I'd just gotten my church clothes back on and was putting on my shoes when the mother of our grandchildren called, two minutes before our First Communicants were supposed to be at the church, to tell us that she'd just gotten out of the shower and ask us to come get the kids (about a 7-minute drive each way), then to scold me for my unhelpful response when I had the nerve to be upset with her about the call. So I may have bent the speed limit a bit getting them to the church as little late as possible. Then we looked anxiously for mom's arrival, which finally happened two minutes before the start of Mass.
The service was lovely, and afterward mom had to go change her top because she'd forgotten to put on deodorant, so we took the kids to the house, where mom finally showed up over an hour later (remember: 7-minute drive, each way) to spend time with the folks who had come to celebrate with us and her kids. There were a couple of trampoline conflicts, and more difficulties obeying, but the company was wonderful and we had a great time. The first wave of guests left before we remembered the cake. Oops.
The last wave of guests was leaving when I realized that there was another small problem. There was another event in the evening: our oldest son-in-law was receiving his Associate Degree. This was the other reason that my wife's sister and her husband, our daughter's godparents, had come for the weekend. They were going to take my camera with them to the graduation, but forgot it. But since most everyone was gone, I was now free to attend the graduation, too, as well as go out afterward with them as we'd planned. At the last minute my wife decided to go, too, which became possible when our good friend and former neighbor agreed with middle daughter and son-in-law to help with clean-up. Youngest daughter, evidently, made very little contribution to this effort. I guess she didn't want to use up all her cleaning energy, which I'm glad she at least applied to her own home later in the night. (Actually, I heard that she had some good quality time with her kids on the trampoline.) We had some difficulty catching up with the family at UD Arena, but finally another set of texts indicated that they weren't in the section they had first indicated, and yes, they had seats available for us down close. It was good for us to be there, and our son-in-law was justifiably proud of his accomplishment. Afterward, not really being hungry as we'd had our main meal already, we made due with an appetizer at the local sports bar which served as the post-graduation supper location. Going there with them afforded us more precious time with the older grandchildren, except for the oldest, who didn't come to the graduation.
Still and all, it was a wonderful weekend. When we got home the house was cleaned up from the party except for some dishes in the sink - not too many - which I did just a few of before work and the wife finished up this morning.
While we were reading, my wife put our youngest two granddaughters to bed and, when we were finished reading, their older sister showered and grandma took her and her brother home - where they were to get ready for their first Communion on Sunday afternoon - so that g-ma could have them go to bed and wait for their mom to get home from work. It was a perfect occasion for the younger ones to stay, as g-ma wouldn't have to get them up and moving in the morning. I soon went to bed for the night, though didn't sleep very well, and as usual the sunrise woke me. I was able to complete my daily intercessory prayer time before either of the youngest granddaughters awoke, then had some very nice time with the six-year old before her sister got up. She was momentarily annoyed because g-ma wouldn't let her use the computer, but we took the opportunity to read together instead. Then I got ready for morning Mass while grandma took over babysitting chores.
Mass went very nicely. Our homilist was our adult formation director, and I enjoy what she shares while being simultaneously jealous that she has the opportunity and concerned about the precedent. The music went well, and our friends from Colorado Springs were there, with a promise that they'd be over later for the party after the First Communion service in the afternoon. The service was a little long, though, so I got home after noon and needed to clean some deck furniture and stuff. I'd just gotten my church clothes back on and was putting on my shoes when the mother of our grandchildren called, two minutes before our First Communicants were supposed to be at the church, to tell us that she'd just gotten out of the shower and ask us to come get the kids (about a 7-minute drive each way), then to scold me for my unhelpful response when I had the nerve to be upset with her about the call. So I may have bent the speed limit a bit getting them to the church as little late as possible. Then we looked anxiously for mom's arrival, which finally happened two minutes before the start of Mass.
The service was lovely, and afterward mom had to go change her top because she'd forgotten to put on deodorant, so we took the kids to the house, where mom finally showed up over an hour later (remember: 7-minute drive, each way) to spend time with the folks who had come to celebrate with us and her kids. There were a couple of trampoline conflicts, and more difficulties obeying, but the company was wonderful and we had a great time. The first wave of guests left before we remembered the cake. Oops.
The last wave of guests was leaving when I realized that there was another small problem. There was another event in the evening: our oldest son-in-law was receiving his Associate Degree. This was the other reason that my wife's sister and her husband, our daughter's godparents, had come for the weekend. They were going to take my camera with them to the graduation, but forgot it. But since most everyone was gone, I was now free to attend the graduation, too, as well as go out afterward with them as we'd planned. At the last minute my wife decided to go, too, which became possible when our good friend and former neighbor agreed with middle daughter and son-in-law to help with clean-up. Youngest daughter, evidently, made very little contribution to this effort. I guess she didn't want to use up all her cleaning energy, which I'm glad she at least applied to her own home later in the night. (Actually, I heard that she had some good quality time with her kids on the trampoline.) We had some difficulty catching up with the family at UD Arena, but finally another set of texts indicated that they weren't in the section they had first indicated, and yes, they had seats available for us down close. It was good for us to be there, and our son-in-law was justifiably proud of his accomplishment. Afterward, not really being hungry as we'd had our main meal already, we made due with an appetizer at the local sports bar which served as the post-graduation supper location. Going there with them afforded us more precious time with the older grandchildren, except for the oldest, who didn't come to the graduation.
Still and all, it was a wonderful weekend. When we got home the house was cleaned up from the party except for some dishes in the sink - not too many - which I did just a few of before work and the wife finished up this morning.
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