Friday evening

The trip to the beach was peaceful, once we left the house. Mom did quip, in the car, once she noticed that I was sitting up front, that "we really do sacrifice everything for our children." I reminded her that I asked her where she wanted to sit before we got in the car.

By the time we left the beach, just before 5pm, I was already hungry. Which is not surprising because we didn't have lunch, just brought some nuts and grapes with us. We'd planned on stopping at Trader Joe's on the way back, because my parents like to buy chocolate there and the moths had gotten to theirs. I had to point this out to them this morning when I opened it. They have so much stuff that they don't notice when moths get into it.

So I was trying, actively, not to snap at mom in Trader Joe's, but she was not only taking her sweet time but insisting that I sample whatever they were offering (she had already sampled it and found it amazing). This was especially time consuming because there was a whole family blocking the sampling booth. For a long time. Finally, I peaked over the family and saw that it was a guacamole blend with Greek yogurt. I told mom as much. Mom said, you should try it. I reminded her that I didn't eat yogurt. Dad and I went to check out (I'd grabbed everything we needed within two minutes). She was still dilly-dallying back there. Oh, and she started complaining about how dad parked in the back, instead of across the street, and now he'd have to turn left. Which was much less of an issue than having her cross the very wide street. But that didn't stop her from complaining about it in both directions, even after we were long gone from the parking lot.

We agreed that dad would park at the liquor store and mom and I would walk home. Except mom wanted to stop at WF. I told her, go ahead, I was just there yesterday. But she felt like going in and seeing what samples they had. I was starving, so I continued on my way. I got in, unloaded the groceries, and started snacking and making salad. Mom got in, asked why I was cooking in the dress. I said it would be fine.

A few minutes later, mom again noted that I was cooking in the dress and should change. I said it would be fine.

This happened a third time. The fourth time, I said, "for the fourth time, no."

Mom: What fourth time? It's not the fourth time.
A.: Yes it is.
Mom: You know what? Keep counting.
A.: Hasn't required extra effort, yet.
Mom: You are horrible. You are cold. You are overly rational and cold.

Mom leaves, comes back.

Mom: Overly rational, and cold! This isn't my problem; it's your problem. I don't know what it's like, but I can only imagine. It's for your sake that you could work on this.