BIL called late on the morning of Good Friday and asked if we wanted to go with them to visit stepMIL -- they'd pick us up in, say, half an hour or so? We haven't seen stepMIL since early December, and we probably would have gone -- IF he'd called us about it the night before, or even, say, 9 a.m. that morning. As it was, we were right in the middle of our usual Friday morning housecleaning. We still had about an hour's worth of work left to do, plus we hadn't yet eaten lunch or had showers (definitely needed after cleaning!). Dh told him to go without us. So typically BIL to call us to do stuff on very short notice...! (this was not the first time this has happened!) (I wonder -- do people with kids get last-minute calls like this??)
Saturday was busy. We went back to our old community for haircuts, with a brief stop at the cemetery to visit Katie. By the time we got back home, we had about an hour & a half to relax, then change and get ready to head over to BIL's for dinner. (I even put on some makeup for the occasion! -- keep in practice, lol...!) As I wrote earlier in the week, we weren't anxious to go, given there would be 16 people -- 14 adults (SIL's two brothers, their partners and families, as well as the nephews, their wives and us) and two small children -- sharing a not-huge space, with covid wave #6 surging hereabouts.
But BIL begged, and dh caved, and so off we went. I told dh we needed to stick close to Younger Nephew & his wife, since they'd be the safest people in the room -- they are probably even more covid-cautious/paranoid than dh & I are, lol. It was not particularly warm outside, but I was relieved that the sliding door to the deck off the kitchen/dining area, where BIL & Older Nephew were grilling enough lamp chops, flank steaks and chicken wings to feed a small army ;) was at least part-way open for most of the time we were there, letting some fresh air circulate in the house. (Not only from a covid perspective -- with that many people there, it was HOT inside!) I staked out a spot at the dinner table near the door, and stayed there for most of the evening, lol. Fingers crossed that, plus being triple-vaxxed, was enough to ward off any germs...!!
We wound up having a reasonably pleasant time. SIL's niece (whom I've known since she was a baby -- she's now in her late 30s) came over to hug me when she arrived, and I quickly offered up my elbow instead. She looked a bit startled but then laughed and bumped elbows. Her little boy (SIL's great-nephew), who is 4, and Little Great-Nephew had a great time playing together. (By my genealogical calculations, they would be second cousins to each other. Neither has any first cousins.) They both got tons of new toys as well as chocolate, and some of the adults organized an egg hunt for them in the basement. I didn't head down there to watch -- too many people in an even smaller enclosed space for my liking...! -- plus I didn't want yet another reminder of the stuff I'd been missing out on with my own children & grandchildren all these years.
As if two kids in the house weren't entertaining enough, Older Nephew brought their miniature dachshund, and SIL's new puppy immediately bounced over to say hello, happy to have a new playmate. Older Nephew's dog was startled -- and clearly NOT happy! -- to see another dog on his old familiar turf, and immediately started barking and yelping. He ran away, with the puppy in hot pursuit, wanting to play. Older Nephew's wife wound up having to take him down to the basement. Oh dear...!
The one jarring note in the evening: the kids were talking about one of SIL's cousins, who is childless and the doting owner of an aging dog. She reportedly paid $5,000 for an ultrasound for the dog. "$5,000?? Well, she doesn't have kids," said SIL's niece dismissively -- conveniently overlooking the fact that there were several childless (by circumstance &/or not by choice) people in the room, including me & dh, SIL's younger brother's girlfriend, and Younger Nephew and his wife, who have been going through infertility treatments recently. Tact has never been her strong suit. I silently rolled my eyes and moved on.
We were both exhausted when we got home, and were very glad to have a quiet day on the couch yesterday!
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
Whoa, busy day! Glad you had the fresh air circulating. And ugh about the no kids comment, so "easy" to throw that out dismissively. Fingers crossed you stay healthy!
ReplyDeleteI get that that’s a flippant, offhand comment to make but I think the (innocent, albeit maybe insensitive) implication is that kids are unbelievably freaking expensive and not as any kind of slight.
ReplyDeleteCould have sworn I replied to this! Probably forgot to push Publish. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I bristled at the SIL's niece comment. She may not have meant to make a slight - but she did, and it was unnecessary. I'm sorry you ALL had to hear that. Still, glad you had a nice weekend - busy day followed by day on the couch is ideal!