Congratulations, SA! I am unsurprised but totally tickled for you.

Tom, gah. Your mom is making me want to fly out there and give her a good shake and then a smack. Has she ever actually listened to the words that come out her own mouth? A forty-year-old man is monstrously selfish for not spending his birthday with Mommy and Daddy? That's so nutty it's hardly worth taking seriously.

Since your mom is in fact P-C's mom, all I can offer is the same advice that goes to P-C: This is what she does. Always. You will never change it; all you can change is what you expect and how you react. My dad does the same thing constantly (using completely different methods, of course; he installed totally different hot buttons in me) and it took me almost a decade of therapy to get to the point where I was just resigned to that.

Whatever was the worst, most self-absorbed, most completely removed-from-reality thing to say in any given situation was exactly what he was going to say. So, if I ever expected him to deviate from that script, I was an idiot. The one advantage to knowing that was, well, knowing it. I know ahead of time that in an emotional crisis he's always going to be just this way, always incredibly pain-inflicting while sincerely believing he's being wise and supportive; at least knowing this means I can plan ahead, know who I can go to for meaningful support and that I'll just have to either cut him out of the loop or treat his contribution as white noise. It sucks that I will never have the dad I want and need, but (a) I do have other people, and (b) ain't nothing I can do about it. Expecting anything different gives him the power to make me hurt and crazy; expecting exactly what he does always do keeps the power with me.

t /blah blah therapycakes easier said than done

Mind, I banged my head against a dad-shaped brick wall for almost thirty years before I learned to do this with any consistency, and at the edge of forty myself I still backslide.

Anyhow, come out here and we'll booze you up and fill you with tasty foods and do our best to make you giddy and gleeful because we're very very happy that you are selfishly spending your birthday out here.

I'm now on board with Kristin's loathing of March. I mean, we have Buffistas' loved ones dying, Buffistas getting laid off, Buffistas not getting jobs they were interviewing for, an emergency C-section....

Did I miss anything?

Granted, the C-section led to wonderful results, but it's still tied up with Noah and Grace being very early and with Kat having, well, a C-section!

Plus, SA got accepted to grad school, which -- WOOT!!!

But other than that, March is sucking big wang.

t shakes fist March-ward

I'm now on board with Kristin's loathing of March. I mean, we have Buffistas' loved ones dying, Buffistas getting laid off, Buffistas not getting jobs they were interviewing for, an emergency C-section....

Did I miss anything?

Um. I'm...cranky?

Yeah, I got nothing. That looks to be all of it.

For now... (DUN dun dunnnnn...)

Did I miss anything?

Um. I'm...cranky?

Should we fear lighting bolts hurled upon the mortals below, a la Zeus?

Yeah, I got nothing. That looks to be all of it.

Thank god, 'cause it's quite enough as it is!

Should we fear lighting bolts hurled upon the mortals below, a la Zeus?

Babe, if you're going to do this, wait a couple of days and I'll buy a really really big renter's insurance policy, board the animals somewhere safe, get all the important stuff out of the apartment and then park the minivan in the kitchen, k?

Babe, if you're going to do this, wait a couple of days and I'll buy a really really big renter's insurance policy, board the animals somewhere safe, get all the important stuff out of the apartment and then park the minivan in the kitchen, k?

Eh. Lightning bolts is Wrath of Me type-stuff.

With "cranky" best you get is an annoying drizzle and some desultory wind.

Therapy was rescheduled for 2 because my therapist's sitter called out sick. I'm already down here, so I am treating myself to lunch and possibly retail therapy.

Lightning bolts is Wrath of Me type-stuff.

buys insurance, empties apartment.

James T. Kirk was a whiny, poofter, momma's boy who shouldn't have been allowed to play with MatchBox cars, let alone pilot a spaceship.

Also?

Greedo shot first.

waits

March is sucking for too many of the Buffistas.

Is this where we say, "ptui! we shall speak of it no more!"?