Thankful for small doses

I love my family, I really do. But I also do a happy dance when they leave to go home. 

My mom and little sister came up from Florida and spent a few days with me and a couple of days in Asheville. I barely get to see them, and I'm always so excited for them to get here, but it never lives up to my expectations.

I guess I keep hoping that the next time I see my sister, now 17, that she'll be older, wiser, nicer, but that never happens. This visit I was especially excited because it coincided with our show at Fromage. I envisioned us getting to play a few songs together and everyone being amazed at our sibling talent.

She too was excited about the idea of getting to play, but her idea of how it would go down is always different. When we tried to practice, she yelled at me for wanting to sing songs that she introduced me to, she didn't want to sing harmony and she didn't want to share. 

At that point my dreams were crushed, and I had a flashback to when she was 5, screaming and banging on the floor, demanding to watch the Spice Girl movie for the 100th time when I wanted to watch T.V. 

We ended up playing a couple of songs together at the show anyway, but I don't know how good it sounded. I also let her play a few of her songs while me and Matt took a break. She's good, her songs are good, but she's not very gracious.

For further injury, she just couldn't wait for me and Matt to finish because she was so bored. She and her friend sat there and text messaged the entire show. How dare we play covers that people enjoy hearing. She's too good for that.

It's not all bad, we have good moments. I just need to accept our relationship for what it is and not expect it to be anything more. Just like parents have to accept their children the way they are, which brings me to my mother.

She arrived at my place at 3:15 a.m. and one of the first things she said was how dusty my fans were. Before she went to sleep she patted my hand saying "Oohh your hands are so soft, probably because you don't do any house work." Of course she said it in a loving, joking way but still, she insists on critiquing my cleaning abilities.

I have never been an adequate housekeeper by her standards but I constantly remind her that maybe if I wasn't forced to clean up after Leilah when we were younger and then forced to clean up after my father too, then maybe I wouldn't mind doing more dishes and cleaning my fans.

I rent a 1907 cabin, have to work some nights and weekends on top of 40 hours a week and have a dog that sheds enough hair daily to produce a fur coat. The minimal cleaning duties keep me busy enough.

I can't leave my dad out of my complaints either. He did come to my show Saturday night, but he refused to order a meal because the one other time he ate there he didn't like it. RUDE. Then he kept yelling across the porch at the waitress "ma'am! ma'am!" while I'm trying to sing. SO RUDE!

Then on Sunday, mom cooked this amazing meal with veggies from paw paw's garden and from Osage Farms. We had fried okra, corn on the cob, barbecue pork, tomatoes, cucumbers and coleslaw. Well dad dropped Leilah off and just came on in with his girlfriend and helped himself to two plates of food, leaving me with no leftovers. What's the point of having mom cook if I don't get leftovers?

My brother was the only one who didn't annoy me this week. He came to my show with his girlfriend Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed the food and wine. Thank you Jonathan. He also proposed to his girlfriend Joanna on Sunday and I'm excited about a wedding!