Thanksgiving Recovery

Sis and Mom are on their way back home and we're here recovering at my house. Two exhausted cats are snoozing in their favorite spots and we've eaten up most of the Thanksgiving leftovers.

I enjoyed most of the family visit but there were some moments with Mom that I found really unpleasant. At least once a day during her visit she became really rude with someone - usually a worker in a shop or a waitress. When her unspoken rules of perfection are violated, she snaps at people or just storms off. It's embarrassing to me for a bunch of reasons and it's not surprising that by last night I had a splitting headache that two rounds of Advil couldn't stop. I went to bed around 10pm which is early for me. I doubt that she knows or cares how hurtful some of her statements and behavior are.

In the past week I've been told ("joking", of course) that I could be disinherited, reminded twice that I've made relationship mistakes in the past, told not to "get snippy" even though I hadn't done anything, told that I wasn't rinsing the dishes correctly, and so on. Happy Holidays! Of course there were positive conversations too but I've grown unaccustomed to being subjected to this. For me my favorite holiday was mostly ruined and I was embarrassed around the town where I live and in front of my boyfriend. Good times. How was your turkey day?

Here's another picture from our trip to "Ice" at the Gaylord Texan. This year's theme is the Grinch and as usual, the ice sculptures were amazing. My boyfriend treated us to fast pass tickets and a nice buffet dinner.

Damn the deficit: Full speed ahead on health care | Washington Examiner

Damn the deficit: Full speed ahead on health care | Washington Examiner

Chilling

I wonder if China, our creditor to the tune of $2 trillion, will be held to the same legally binding global climate regime?


Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said the policy he outlined last week at an Asia Pacific summit was endorsed by President Barack Obama and the other leaders calling for "an ambitious, binding agreement" in Copenhagen, even though it would fall short of a legal treaty.

"The stronger our politically binding agreement in Copenhagen, the faster the progress toward a new legally binding, global climate regime," Loekke Rasmussen said.

Flashbacks

As we drove to our friend's comedy debut tonight, I gazed out at the scenery along LBJ freeway. Sometimes it seems almost unreal to me that I live in Texas again. It's almost as though the 9 years I spent in NJ never happened. But then, I looked closer and I saw how things have changed. In those days, I saw Dallas as a glittering city of the future...lined with shiny skyscrapers and encircled with endless freeways leading toward limitless tomorrows. It might have had something to do with my address at the time, which was in the (then) redeveloping area of Knox-Henderson. Everything seemed shiny and new. I was recently out, too.

The LBJ-scape has changed since 1999. West of Mac Arthur, the stores, restaurants and office buildings now stretch almost all the way to Grapevine. I remember there being little other than grass and wildflowers back in my Dallas Alpha days. Back then, my office was in Farmers Branch, right near what is now the new DART line and the new Sam Moon center. But "Hole in the Wall Burger" is still there on Harry Hines. And so is that place that makes the custom lighted Christmas decorations there at the corner of LBJ and Stemmons.

Those 9 years in NJ did happen, too. A colleague at work shared with me today how he and his partner have parted ways. They recently completed renovating their new home, and now they are splitting up. I couldn't help but think about the two breakups I endured during my Jersey period. The first one came years later than it should have, but happened after a particularly trying time of buying and renovating a "fixer upper" house. I thought it would be a home for many years. While you're living it, it's easy not to realize how much things change over time, whether it is our relationships, life plans, homes, or the scenery along LBJ freeway between Irving and Grapevine.