Sunday, February 18, 2007

Let's Play The Family Feud



I was up for the day right around 8am after a fairly good night’s sleep. Because we had Olivia overnight, I got up for a 2am feeding, and Mindy got up for the 7am. I was up for only 45 minutes before she finished and fell back asleep. Surprisingly, I felt wide awake by the time I put her back down. It didn’t take long before I fell back asleep, however. That’s never been much of a problem for me.

Mindy had Olivia back in bed by the time I made it downstairs. I was almost certain that she’d be up for the duration given all the sleep she had since yesterday afternoon. She must’ve been tired. I wasted little time getting on with my exercise routine. By 8:20am I was ready to walk with Ykraps. We enjoyed our walk, and Ykraps even bared fruit.

As we scaled the driveway to the house, I took notice of the need to shovel yet again before Mindy leaves for church. The whole shoveling thing is getting old. I’ll be pleased when the weather breaks. Not wasting any time, I sucked down some coffee and logged into work via my laptop. Nothing was afoul. Readying to run, I realized that my running clothes remained wet in a basket from Saturday. I had to throw them in the dryer before I could dress for the daily run. It didn’t take too long – ten minutes.

I didn’t check the clock carefully, but would guess I was out the door running before 9:30am. I stayed in the subdivision given the poor road conditions. Inside I wouldn’t have to dodge fast moving cars. Traction, however, was a bit challenging, but I lived. I was back in a jiffy. Without any hesitation, I grabbed the snow shovels and got cranking on the driveway, first clearing a path for Mindy’s mini-van and then the walk leading to the front door. Mindy let me know that she nixed the idea of taking Olivia to church since she was once again sound asleep. No worries. Her and the kids left for church by 10:15am. The kids were sad that Olivia wasn’t going along.

After Mindy departed I made myself a big breakfast consisting of leftover polish sausage, scalloped potatoes, and eggs. It was good n’ hearty! In the meantime, Olivia kept sleeping. I was able to get all sorts of little tasks completed. She didn’t wake up until just before Mindy and the kids got home from church. By then, Ashley & Lindsey arrived to pick her up.

Mindy and Bella left for Heather’s baby shower around 12:30pm. They were driving out to brother Tommy’s. I gave Mindy decent directions and Tommy’s phone number in case she got lost. The girls left soon after Mindy. All that remained were Jacob and I. It was very peaceful!

Jacob was hell bent on watching the Buckeye basketball game coming on at 1pm. I was determined to read and even nap. As soon as the game started I snuck off to the quiet living room while Jacob watched game in the family room. That worked well. I didn’t hear him yelling at the TV even once! Goal accomplished. I was able to read and nap. Jacob let me know when the game was over. He and I went to the basement and played a game of nerf basketball. He won 87-86. Just as we finished, Mindy and Bella returned. We didn’t have too long before we had to leave for Gloria’s.

We left the house at 4pm destined for Minelli’s where we were picking up a family size order of lasagna, spaghetti, and salad. It was ready once we got there. It was $94. Everything was packed in a large box ready to carry. I didn’t bother inventorying it, I trusted them.

We weren’t at Gloria’s too long before Mindy;s sister questioned the size of the order. She was almost certain we were shorted an order of lasagna and spaghetti. I placed a call back to Minelli’s, who admitted making a mistake. I drove back to pick-up the rest of our food. It was piping hot, too! I have a blister on my right hand to prove it.

Back at Gloria’s we all settled in to eat. We hadn’t gathered in a few weeks - the Sunday before the Super Bowl if memory serves me. Everything was good. I had a little spaghetti and a little lasagna. OK – I had a lot of lasagna! Just when I was contemplating thirds I overheard an evil exchange taking place between Mindy and her younger brother, Todd. At first I thought they were kidding, but quickly it became apparent they weren’t. Mindy was ripping him for not serving Bella some ice cream when he was up serving his daughter Mia. He told Mindy to take care of her own kids, or something like that. This obviously infuriated Mindy, who always, I must admit, goes out of her way to make everyone, especially kids, feel special and would never do something alienate one against the other. Before I knew it, Mindy threatened to leave and was gathering the kids to do just that. I had never before witnessed such negative emotion from her, although she was obviously provoked.

I left the table in an attempt to calm her privately, but I could tell there was no coming down off the ledge. She had already launched her proverbial howitzer missile. Sibling rivalries are real and often rooted in deeper issues from the past. I presumed that’s what was going on here. As much as I hated to, I agreed to leave. I went back into the kitchen and said our goodbyes.

I gathered that both of them, Todd & Mindy, probably wished they’d handled it differently. It’s so hard to pull back, apologize, and admit ones mistake, especially in front of so many others.

We left for home and it was barely even 5:30pm. Once we arrived home, Jacob and I walked Ykraps. Jacob insisted on more sledding when we were done. The snow hill was getting slick from the afternoon sun and the repeated travels. It was loads of fun. Soon Bella and Mindy joined in the fun. We all sledded for about an hour. To our surprise, Bella was into it. She flew down the hill, over the hump and onto the frozen pond. She loved it. Even Mindy and I went down a time or two.

I had to laugh because Bella’s boots kept coming off. On closer investigation I could see that she has plastic grocery bags over her socks – an old Grandma Wright trick! Apparently she wasn’t the only one with such and idea! The trouble was that made her feet too slick for the boots. It worked, however. Bella never once complained about cold feet

Just after the sun went down we headed in. Everyone was happy and smiling. I was most happy for Mindy who was noticeably shaken by her run in with her brother. She kept reliving the exchange. I teased her about it a little but knew when to stop. As I expected, her aggression was rooted in issues from way back. I should’ve been a shrink!

Soon Mindy had the kids in bed and returned downstairs for some quiet time. We threw in the towel on the Sunday evening cartoons and instead talked. I had an ice cold pumpkin ale and Mindy a glass of red wine. I played a little guitar and did some reading while Mindy took care of a few chores. We went to bed right at 10pm. Mindy was still thinking about her crusty exchange.

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