10:05 p.m. | 2005-08-08 Snapshots. I�ve been thinking about past familial moments as of late whilst exploring my new genetic medical concerns. However other things have come up. This is one of those things. And, I feel compelled to purge it out of my head hence it will fall squarely on this small virtual space. Without any comfortable transition, I might add. When I was 14, my parents filed for divorce. I was all for that but alas, they stayed together until I was 16 for financial reasons. During that two-year period, there were moments when my siblings and I lived with MyDad and moments when we lived with MyMother. We all preferred living with MyDad. Hands down. Here�s one reason why. At this particular time, DearestSister (DS), YoungerSister (YS) and I lived with MyMother. MyDad and EldestSister (ES) each lived on their own elsewhere. DS was 16, I was 15 and YS was 9. Anyway, during this time, MyMother would often call household meetings to lay down rules and whatnot. I suppose that was important since the �rules� changed from day to day, but then again, since they changed from day to day, I�m not sure why they were laid down in the first place. A pronouncement of �Live and Learn� would�ve been sufficient I think. However, one day, an emergency household meeting was called. DS, YS and I gathered solemnly in the livingroom. At this meeting MyMother informed us that she had taken the grocery money for the month and bought a hand-carved nativity scene that was being imported from another country. One that was exquisite and beautiful and well, was worth us not having food for the next 30 days. Does it matter that this treasure was small enough to fit in the palm of her hand? Or that it was a religious icon? Not to MyMother, of course, but strangely ironic to us since I don�t think Jesus wanted us to starve so my mother could add to her collection of nativity scenes. As DS and I were taught, we took this pronouncement stoically. YS? Not so much. After the meeting, DS and I agreed that we wouldn�t eat anything already in the house � because there wasn�t much � in order that YS could eat. As teenagers, DS and I could finagle food here and there via friends since our friends had money. Plus we could get money and/or food from MyDad since he taught at our school. (And wasn�t particularly keen on MyMother�s odd sense of priorities; reference the divorce proceedings.) But YS, being all of 9 years old, didn�t have those resources. Between DS, MyDad and myself though, we kept her fed. MyMother worked at a restaurant and got three free meals a day and when the nativity scene finally came in the mail? It really wasn�t that impressive. Is it any wonder that my moniker is Cruel Irony? Live and Learn, I guess. Several years later, in a strange twist of fate, YS and I ended up in that �other country� in a town that specializes in hand-carved nativity scenes. Really impressive ones. We each � independently � bought one for MyMother. Which is when I knew that YS had really understood what that household meeting was about. (YS became/is extremely stoic so it takes actions like that to realize her opinion about matters.) In a cruel twist of fate, YS ended up living with MyMother and her brand new husband after the divorce. I was lucky. I got to live with MyDad. Just for the record, MyDad never let me bad mouth MyMother. EVER. Yet one day, while talking about something completely unrelated he mentioned that MyMother never managed money well. No shit. In other news, I checked the weather forecast today. The high was "N/A". I guess the weatherperson keeled over and that stands for "not available". My other guess would be "not avisable"... to go outside because it's TOO HOT. your thoughts? seed flower