Zoe Girl
7-12-13, 11:21am
Well so far so good, we are having fun at the beach in Michigan. Only my son came along, the girls had to work (okay my oldest did not want to take her precious time off and miss a metal concert, but that is okay. I have done the same in my day). My sister left this morning after several days. My nephews are 8 and 10, good kids but I forgot quickly how much work this age is. It is VERY different to have 2 boys in close age than 2 girls and then a boy. They wrestled and dunked each other in the water of Lake Michigan for hours on end (then slept well).
Last night we had some old family friends come out for dinner at the house we are renting. I have not seen them in a VERY long time. We moved away when I was 16, 30 years ago, and my parents did move back to the state 22 years ago (I know because my oldest was 4 months old) and now live in Iowa. I swear they have not changed, the wife has the most interesting accent and there was one word I could not understand for the longest time. They were talking about remodeling the kitchen and about drawer 'pulls'. All I could understand was 'poles' and did not remember any poles in their kitchen, LOL. It is almost a Minnesota accent like Fargo. I am fascinated by language and accents, I want to record my grandmother's voice soon since she is 90.
On the drive out we stopped to have breakfast with my grandmother, aunt and uncle. They picked up McDonalds for everyone. I have food limits so I just had tea but they kept on trying to feed me, the family thing to feed! I was talking to them and expressed that I really like cooking so I hoped that in the end my mom would let me make a few things from her menu. I have to love my uncle, my mom and aunts are all so busy taking care of everything that there is not much room to be a grownup around them, but my uncle understood what i was saying in a positive way (and yes I was being positive) about just understanding that urge to feed family and share food.
The 'different' feeling was very different on this trip, LOL. I have been very dedicated to my meditation practice overall and it was such a treat to get up before everyone and meditate on the beach at Lake Michigan. Sand is awesome, you can mold it to your ideal sitting shape. I only needed a towel to put over my pretend cushion. Before I knew about my bipolar 2 diagnoses I really tried to bring attention to myself and this time I was pretty chill even with people I had not seen in a long time (I used to feel like I had to assert myself around my mother's outgoing/dominating personality). I took a step back many times to observe things in a different way but that doesn't mean being passive either. So by the time the guests left last night the husband seemed to 'get' that I wasn't just a mini version of my mother and talked to me a little more. I pretty much kept quiet, the hardest thing is that all the subjects seem to be very much about a lifestyle that I no longer have due to losing my house/not getting a teaching job. My nephew at one point kept talking about how much they liked my old big house and why didn't we live there anymore, my sister tried to distract him. I saw very glaringly why visiting me must be hard for my mom, we live like the people down on their luck in many ways.
We have one more day at the beach, my parents are having over a couple tonight for dinner. The guy is the one who took over my dad's job when he retired. They sound like people like me!! They drive a Prius and exercise and probably know what quinoa is. Then 2 days of driving back, hopefully check in with my grandmother on the way back as well.
Last night we had some old family friends come out for dinner at the house we are renting. I have not seen them in a VERY long time. We moved away when I was 16, 30 years ago, and my parents did move back to the state 22 years ago (I know because my oldest was 4 months old) and now live in Iowa. I swear they have not changed, the wife has the most interesting accent and there was one word I could not understand for the longest time. They were talking about remodeling the kitchen and about drawer 'pulls'. All I could understand was 'poles' and did not remember any poles in their kitchen, LOL. It is almost a Minnesota accent like Fargo. I am fascinated by language and accents, I want to record my grandmother's voice soon since she is 90.
On the drive out we stopped to have breakfast with my grandmother, aunt and uncle. They picked up McDonalds for everyone. I have food limits so I just had tea but they kept on trying to feed me, the family thing to feed! I was talking to them and expressed that I really like cooking so I hoped that in the end my mom would let me make a few things from her menu. I have to love my uncle, my mom and aunts are all so busy taking care of everything that there is not much room to be a grownup around them, but my uncle understood what i was saying in a positive way (and yes I was being positive) about just understanding that urge to feed family and share food.
The 'different' feeling was very different on this trip, LOL. I have been very dedicated to my meditation practice overall and it was such a treat to get up before everyone and meditate on the beach at Lake Michigan. Sand is awesome, you can mold it to your ideal sitting shape. I only needed a towel to put over my pretend cushion. Before I knew about my bipolar 2 diagnoses I really tried to bring attention to myself and this time I was pretty chill even with people I had not seen in a long time (I used to feel like I had to assert myself around my mother's outgoing/dominating personality). I took a step back many times to observe things in a different way but that doesn't mean being passive either. So by the time the guests left last night the husband seemed to 'get' that I wasn't just a mini version of my mother and talked to me a little more. I pretty much kept quiet, the hardest thing is that all the subjects seem to be very much about a lifestyle that I no longer have due to losing my house/not getting a teaching job. My nephew at one point kept talking about how much they liked my old big house and why didn't we live there anymore, my sister tried to distract him. I saw very glaringly why visiting me must be hard for my mom, we live like the people down on their luck in many ways.
We have one more day at the beach, my parents are having over a couple tonight for dinner. The guy is the one who took over my dad's job when he retired. They sound like people like me!! They drive a Prius and exercise and probably know what quinoa is. Then 2 days of driving back, hopefully check in with my grandmother on the way back as well.