Oh this is clever!
My dad is spending the week in a nursing home (physical therapy, after a fall down the basement stairs). So we got to see him in this "home" with white-haired people shouting random weird things, and the dialogue you posted here is pitch-perfect (as usual).
Seventy! Took me a while to figure out what you meant. I'm a lowly 68. Should I care? LOL!
Niko. 'Set ethical boundaries.' Maybe he was giving you those words Stacey not because you need to set these boundaries but so that you could share those words with whoever needed to hear them.
You reminded me of a comedy routine I thought about trying if ever I were to attempt standup comedy.
Performance Review
Mom, your numbers are tanking. You have performed badly.
Mom, you're FIRED.
I googled it and found no such thing as families doing PERFORMANCE REVIEWS of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives.
I was seeking the words to end this routine with the mother saying something really pithy, but I still have too many words: "You fired me? What a coincidence. I find your own performance worthy of an Oscar. Drama Queens, be gone, I have no further need of you." Too many words.
November 2021: Sister #2 is interred with Sister #1; Sister #3 gets the cancer diagnosis; six months later, all three sisters are sharing the one grave (#2 and #3 were cremated). Our dad is in stage 4 renal failure and prone to falls and likely to die sooner rather than later. And I get the "You're fired!" performance review from my middle child.
My lifelong conviction of "unconditional love" and forgiveness has been put to the test.
I've been reading Jay Shetty (Hindu podcaster/counselor) and Gesture of Balance: A Guide to Awareness, Self-Healing, & Meditation (Nyingma Psychology Series #2) by Tarthang Tulku - to no avail -
Also I have been paring and cooking apples from our tree (one box left in the garage, not keeping much longer). This fall of 2022 has had me at the sink with the apples, weeping in frustration and anger, keeping my hands busy but my heart as battered and bruised as can be. One more box of apples to go. I cook them for a few minutes with no sugar, no spices, nothing but some water to break the apples down into a palatable mush. Their own flavor is so pure an distinct, I don't even add cinnamon....
Your dad has renal failure? That is not good. I can't believe this rough patch you are in!!! It just keeps coming at you. And at all of you, middle child included. Has she cut out your parents as well? Awful!
What variety of apple is that? I want to plant a couple.
Jonadel, I believe (cross between Jonathon and Red Delicious) is the tree. Great flavor for cooking!
Yes, he's been in renal failure for several years now. Might still be Stage 3. Numbers. Who can remember. You can, but not me. :)
No, she hasn't cut off her grandparents - but for years she had written off the cousins as "toxic" and totally unnecessary to her well being or happiness. Recently she's been speaking to them again (the motherless cousins).
The level of "self absorbed" and judgmental and critical -
I could write a book, but I went outside instead and gathered another big paper bag full of praire flower seeds to give away. Person #4 will arrive today. Coneflower, bergamot, aster, goldenrod... come and get it....
That color change is really interesting! I wonder if the soil pH changed? Sounds good thx.
Keep moving; keep your hands moving; (I think I sent you this already, Stacey, and you, @myjob)