{{{Hil}}} I'm sorry.

The soap opera that is life decided to go odd on me today.

Early afternoon, sitting in the house, thinking it's hot, wondering what to do with the rest of the day. Phone rings.

Hubby's daughter, who a few years back loudly declared that she wanted nothing to do with her father ever, ever again. She's in town, she wants to visit, she thought it would be a lovely surprise to call us up for the first time in years when she's half a mile from the house and inbound.

Being the pessimistic sort when it comes to people who loudly declare their sweeping dislike of you, I expected the worst: she and her two children are homeless and are looking to move in or some such variant.

Happily, she appears to have grown up in the intervening years, and has enough mental wherewithal to sort out her mother's stories from her own experiences with her father and to come to the conclusion that she might want to make her own relationship with her father on new terms. She's in town to visit friends and family, but her home is in Washington state, where her husband is stationed at Bremerton. Her kids, Hubby's grandchildren, aren't too much the holy terrors, other than kids who are seven and five and being introduced to a new grandparent would be.

I'm very happy that Hubby can have a relationship with his daughter. For myself, I am in no way ready to be a significant influence in the life of descendants. I don't think kids are wonderful and the idea of being responsible for grandchildren makes me nauseous with dread. If it had looked like Hubby's daughter was going to be a significant part of his life, I wouldn't have married him. At the time, all signs pointed to "If you see her once a year for a couple of hours, count yourself lucky, bucko" on his ex's part. I understand that a reconciliation counts as a happy ending in the great screenplay of life, and the fact of a child is something I should have taken better consideration of. But I'm very, very grateful that she's happy in another state.

Wow.

Thanks, guys.

My sister had offered to come down to DC for the day of my dissertation defense, and while it would be great to see her (haven't seen her in way too long), and it would be nice to have her there to hang out with after the defense, I know that having her stay over the night before would just be too stressful for me -- I need my space, and there's really no way to have a guest in a studio apartment without tripping over each other.

{{Hil}}

Connie, wow. Really don't know what to say.

Hil, can your sister arrive the day of? So her first night with you is after you are done?

I'm glad for your DH, Connie. But still, whoa.

good luck, Connie. May everything be smooth and easy

Kara paid me an odd compliment, telling me that I should get over the step- part of the relationship, saying "You've been married to my dad for longer than my mom has been married to any of her husbands altogether." So she can see her mom in a clear light, which has been a dread of Hubby's, that his ex would succeed in raising her to have the same disposable-husband mentality. *Kara* has been married to her husband longer than her mother has been married to any man. The infinite variety of relationships is weird.

Why don't I live in Venice? Seriously WHY DON'T I LIVE IN VENICE????

If you watched the sixth episode of the current season of Doctor Who, you would know.