In all fairness...

I commented on this matter to dad this morning and to my friends just this evening when they asked about the week with mom: mom has gotten better.

What I mean is, mom definitely says a lot of things that are unnecessary and mildly irritating, but she's not been nasty. This has not always been the case. Three years ago, she made me wish that I'd driven so I could have driven home. I actually called the airline to see if they could have put me on an earlier flight, change fee and all.

Mom hasn't thrown her signature morning fit. She hasn't gone ape$hit over spilled milk (or, more literally, over parsley that she perceived to be left out overnight, even though I'd just taken it out because I was about to use it)--point being, she used to do that: she used to throw fits over minor things. She came close, over my not having 'shut up' her computer before leaving, but she let it go relatively fast.

She hasn't even lectured me about being cold, and that she did as recently as Labor Day weekend. I mean, do you remember when she visited a year and a half ago? And when I was here for the holidays three years ago? Remember when she threw a piece of feta at my father because he asked her not to yell at me when I wouldn't agree with her disbelief in the theory of evolution?

So she hasn't missed an opportunity to mention that I've put on weight. And she continues to ask me whether I'd eat some vegetable or another, after I made it clear, repeatedly, that I generally *eat vegetables.* This is all workable. It doesn't even bother me (in part because it's fodder for the blog). It's just quirky.

I'm actually amazed, in a good way, that we've gone almost a week without a screaming fight. Usually it's a matter of days. It's actually pretty awesome.