10:29 p.m. | 2004-12-07 Dear Diary. Oh Lord, Dear Diary. I haven�t been updating although I�ve meant to. Yeah. Good intentions � we all know where that gets us. Anyway, after all the gun shooting, besides work, I�ve attended a fancy party, had lunch with BestestGirlfriend, went grocery shopping, completed chores, provided baby care, reorganized my budget and have attended several work-related meetings. Oh, I forgot about the whole canned food drive. Did we win last week? Totally. We crushed The Enemy. This time, The Enemy almost doubled their previous total. However, we almost tripled ours. Today? Um, not so good. The cold weather is causing all sorts of problems for me. Spontaneous nose bleeds, migraines and serious pain are all present. At such times, I choose to get some rest so it�ll all get better. So, I called in sick. Or rather, I traded a day I have off later this week for today. That didn�t work so good. I got an extra hour of sleep before I was called into work to complete a rather complicated project by the end of the day. In addition to the migraine and pain, I developed some serious nausea by doing the �glasses on, glasses off� drill. Not a good day. Until I got a call this evening. Let me just say I recognized the voice right away. Here�s that. (CI:) Hello? (EldestNephew:) Yes, I�d like to order a sausage pizza. Wait, a combo pizza. With olives. (CI:) Well, I�d suggest that you call a pizza parlor. (EN:) A pizza parlor? Heh. My mom (DearestSister) didn�t know I was going say that; I just told her I was gonna call you. She thinks it�s funny. (CI:) I can tell. (DS was laughing away in the background in that way she does when EN does this unexpected type of thing. I find it hysterical myself. But, that�s just me.) (EN:) What�d you doing for Christmas? (CI:) Oh don�t even� why didn�t you ask me two days ago? Dammit. (EN:) I didn�t think about it two days ago. (CI:) I�ve already committed to other plans. I�m going here and whatnot. What are you guys doing? (EN:) My mom isn�t doing anything; she�s just gonna lay around (she�s not lazy, just super overextended), Happy is going to his dad�s place so I�m gonna spend Christmas with my aunts. (On his dad�s side.) Since they live in your town, I was hoping you�d go with me. (CI:) Arg. I would love to go with you but I�m already committed. (EN:) Just call them up and say you�ve changed plans. (CI:) I can�t. You know that. And you also know that I don�t really want to go because MyMother is going to be there. I�ve gotta follow through. (EN:) Wait, my mom wants to talk to you. (DS:) Hey, I don�t know what to do about this. What�d you think? (CI:) I don�t know either. I�m still working that out. Anyway as I told EN, I�m going here for Christmas. I don�t really want to do this, but I�m trying to develop a relationship with MyMother. Thereby, DS instantly dissolved into laughter. To the point she couldn�t talk. (Rightfully so.) Eventually, she shoved the phone at EN. (EN:) Sorry, she�s can�t talk. (CI:) That�s okay. That�s why I love your family� because you guys understand. (EN:) Well, I understand but I�m not so sure about my mom. (CI:) Oh, she understands. That makes it funnier actually. But you get what I�m trying to do, right? (EN:) Yeah. I do. Mind you, I could hear DearestSister laughing in the background and nearly hyperventilating. Needless to say, EN and I both caught the giggles. Mostly, for the time span, yeah� not a lot was said. (EN:) My mom can�t talk to you right now. She told me to tell you she�ll call you tomorrow. Is that okay? (CI:) Sure. I love you guys. (EN:) I love you too. Obviously, we have some catching up to do. Oh, and about MyMother? I don�t talk about her a lot, or at all, because it�s a rather difficult situation. Let me just say that not all people are meant to be parents (myself included) and not all mothers are maternal. Sometimes, things just don�t work out right. I�m just trying to my part, that�s all. your thoughts? seed flower