Thing is, they wanted to leave next week. I would've loved it. It just so happens, however, that was the same day of the memorial service for the family friend who died a week ago. I asked my boss before I left work yesterday/Friday if I could take that afternoon off; even though it was short notice, he said yes. And so I assumed that my folks would want to pay their respects, too. Besides, it was going to be short -- an hour to mill around and say hi, and then an hour for the service, and I guess there will be stuff to eat afterward, but that's when we could just go home. But Mother was looking for flights on that day because they were going to be as cheap as they would be before prices went up for the holidays.
Honestly, this was a dick move by them -- and not surprising. They don't want to be here, especially in the cold. And when Mother got the all-clear from the physician who performed knee surgery on her, I knew it was going to be a matter of time before they were going to skedaddle. And still I thought they were going to listen to the angels of their better nature and go to the service.
Was I going to push this? No. Technically, the flight Mother was looking at was going to fly out around noon. I could take them in the morning, come back, get dressed and go to the service by myself. That would have been fine. I think that if my boss let me go for the afternoon, he'd let me go for the whole day. Also, I think it's important that someone from the family go to the funeral. Ideally it should be all of us, but if my parents' friendship with her was fake, whatever. What mattered to me was that I go to the service to pay my respects to the lady who lived just a couple houses down from us and who was always nice to us.
Now, I guess I could have headed this conflict off if I knew before yesterday/Friday that next week was the service, but I kept forgetting to check the date. Also, it is a bitter irony that the day they were going to leave just so happened to be the same fuckin' date of the service. If the service were the day before, it would've been perfect. Alas, I am trying not to be angry. This is about saying goodbye, after all, and this neighbor's death has me thinking about how my parents are still around, though not forever.
So, my ever-parsimonious Mother decided she would look for the next date with tickets as cheap as the one next week. And that date is ... the first week in January! Because of the funeral service, my parents will be here for another 3 1/2 weeks! Like I said, I'm trying not to hate God for this. There are some plusses to them staying. For example, even though Mother has been cleared to get on a plane, her doctor advised her to continue walking because the threat of blood clots is still there. However, the doc also said that risk decreases over time, so I want to think that the chances of her getting a blood clot will be notably less in January than next week. Also ... well, I guess it's alright that I can be with my folks for the holidays, even though that wasn't their initial plan. (When Mother bought the tickets, she said Father wanted to spend the holidays with me. That's ... well, bullshit.)
OK, I can't think of too many upsides to them being here for the holidays. I would like to them to be gone. With my parents out of the state, I could go out to this bar on Christmas Eve, but that would be too weird now. And I guess there are 3 1/2 more weeks of us starting a fight over something or other. Whatevs. They've been here since April, I think, so what's another month at this point? Besides, and I hate to say it, I'm scared that another member of my family is going to fall ill this month. If that's the case, and if they're off wintering, they'll just have to fly back home. They might as well be here and save themselves the trip.
Oh, by the way, it looks as though Father will accompany me to the service but Mother won't. That ain't her bag or some shit.
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