Then I wouldn’t have to deal with all their weirdnesses.

My mother was sick this last weekend and by Monday was coughing, moving very slowly, and running a fever. She went to the doctor and he admitted her to the hospital.

My sisters were both mad that Mom went in. Today I was talking to my brother (who just arrived in town today) and he said Mother did not appear sick, except for a cough. I told him that Mom was sick and that she had been having issues with confusion. His response? She exaggerates. She probably didn’t really think my younger son was 17 or that my elder son was born in November. She was just pretending for attention.

I really don’t like my family very much right now. Yes, my mother has a high need for attention. Considering how little attention she got all her life, though, that is not surprising. (Look at Janice Radway’s 1984 discussion of Smithton women for a thorough introduction to this issue-among people who are not identified as dysfunctional or mentally ill.)

I just… don’t like it. I love them. They have been my family for 40+ years. But, dang, they’re the monkey with their hand caught in the jar. No matter what else is going on, they won’t let go.

Of course, they probably feel that I have inherited mother’s naivete, an aspect of her personality that also worries them. (And to some extent they are correct.)

Oh well.

Guess I will just have to let it go and go back to working on my papers that are due this week.