A quickie before the holiday

Hi,

From the time we pick up Mum until the last house guest is punted out I will not likely get the opportunity to update my blog, so, here it is.

I had mentioned the other day that I have family coming over. We are picking up Mum at the airport in a little bit. She'll be hungry, so we will likely have brunch, then go shopping for all the food that: 1) Dad and I forgot to get 2) is better to get "fresh"-er 3) that Mum will say we forgot, but really Dad and I just would just as soon not have bothered with.

Then Mum will make a big deal of having to rush to the house to get is ready for company. Hello - Just what have I been doing all weekend? And what I do every time we have company?

Mum does not get that she does not live here anymore and _she_ is the company that I have to get ready for.

Aunt and uncle (Mum's brother and sister-in-law) along with their rug-rat will be driving in tonight.

Dad's ... um ... friend is coming in the morning to help with the meal-making. This should be interesting. She has met Mum before and all should be cool there, but /I/ feel mondo tension. Dad too. Actually, I may have sympathetic tension from Dad.

And Amy (Mum's first sister-in-law) will be here tomorrow too.

Mum is like the center cog of awkward in the family.

Here it is in a nut-shell:
She slept with her brother's first wife before he did.
Dad still loves her, and she still loves him, but she switched teams.
She and Dad's new hopefully-girlfriend are both going to be playing Mrs Domestic.
Uncle's ex will be here because of her relationship with Mum (which has ended physically, but they are still really good friends) and now with me (--not a physical relationship exactly--)

So I have a house full of ex's and currents. This is, by the way, not my idea of the Norman Rockwell Family Holiday. I have emergency meds to help me through it. I also have Claire on speed dial to whisk me away should the need arise. We don't want a repeat of last year.

Actually, the little niece provides a nice bit of distraction.

So, Take Care and Happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans out there. Happy Next-Few-Days to the rest of you.

LQ