In the beginning, or middle as the case may be

Long after the earth had cooled, the mountains had formed, and man began walking upright, my family drama began. Not to imply that my family is the only one with drama, but it is my blog, afterall.

I'd love to start the story from the beginning, but that doesn't really fit with the family dynamic, so we'll start mid-chapter with ... oh, say, Friday.

My niece, C, and my nephew, E, were staying with me. My niece was staying for a couple weeks during the summer as she has done ever since her mother, CR, packed the kids up and moved to TX. My nepew had decided to move in with me after graduation (after having been rejected by his father and his [maternal] grandmother).

Late Friday afternoon E's paternal grandmother, K, called me. They were scheduled to lead E back to their house (approx. 2.5 hrs away). She called, among other reasons, to find out how much stuff E was bringing back with him to store at their house. This was the first I'd heard about this. Why is he storing stuff at your house, I asked? She said he told her there was no place to store it at my house. While I don't have a mansion, I do have room -- nothing some shelves can't overcome. Then she asked what his plans for school were. "Well, " I explained, "he had originally planned to go to school and live with his dad, but J said no." I wanted to say that with a lot more adjectives, but even I know a brick wall when I see it. Besides, surely she already knew this part of the story...

"No." she replied empatically. "He did not say that E couldn't live with him. He said there would be rules. See, J told me that E has been hitting on his wife, SY, and that was going to have to stop if E was living with them. But J really wants him to live with them." First, while E is 18, he's a very, very immature 18... like, maybe 14. I doubt he'd know how to make a pass if someone gave him written instructions. That's when I knew that J had finally snowed his mom. Over the years I'd had respect for her because she always knew when J was being particularly assholistic and usually she'd knock him upside the head (or whatever). Not that it always fixed the situation, but more often than not it made it better. But now we'd finally reached the point in time where she could no longer help.

Second, E takes (and definitely needs) several psychotropic medications. J doesn't believe E needs said medications. When E was younger, CR had to have medical neglect charges filed against J because he wouldn't give E his medications. (CR won that battle, BTW.)

So after seeing E more relaxed in the past week than he's been in years, and after finallly getting used to the idea that he really was going to be living with me, I was stunned to hear that he was plotting to move in with ... [swallowing back a nasty burp] J.

To further complicate the situation, K did not want E to bring his truck. It wasn't registered because E bought the truck from CR's new husband's mother. (This is not a family tree... it's a friggin weed.) She failed to sign the back of the title. This was the second conversation I'd had with J's parents about that damn title. I truly believe it was just an oversight, but the two of them were acting like it was a dirty trick played on him. "Why would they do that to a kid?" Oh, NOW he's a kid??? A minute ago he was making a pass at his step-mom. Make up your mind.

E was furious that they did not want him to bring his truck. He wanted to be able to drive to visit whatever family member he felt like and not be trapped in someone's house.

As if all that wasn't enough for 5:00 on a Friday, I find out that C wants to cut her visit short and catch a ride with E to visit other family.

I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. C had said nothing about wanting to cut her visit short to me.

I waited for K to talk to E, then I called the house. C answered the phone and I could hear him screaming in the background. I decided to cut the day short and come home.

E was gone when I got home. While he has a GPS, I don't think he keeps it in the truck. So he's in a new town, albeit a tiny, tiny town, driving around, mad as hell... just about the time I considered calling the police, he pulled back in the driveway. He was in a little better mood, but not much.

A long talk later and he confessed he was thinking about moving in with his dad, he had no idea what I was talking about re: hitting on his step-mom, he felt like there was no place for his stuff because there was no place to *put* his stuff. Well, crap, he's only been here a week -- there just hasn't been time to go furniture shopping.

I tried to talk about the pro's & cons of living with his dad, but, right or wrong, I also nudged just a little towards living with me. (Go ahead and comment... that's what they're there for.)

I was going to take the kids to see a movie & out to eat. They both decided that they just wanted to get some food and maybe rent a movie because they had to pack.

Honestly I don't think I slept at all that night. I was really looking forward to spending time alone with C. I wanted to cry but I didn't want either one of them feeling guilty. I grew up with the guilts and it sucks.

However, C definitely tuned in to my mood. Saturday morning (I was up at 8:30! I know!!! I told you I couldn't sleep!) E told me that C was wanting to go back to TX and skip seeing the other family. I was working out in the yard (what else do you do at that hour?) so I asked E to send C out to see me.

She appeared and was almost on the verge of tears. I hugged her and asked what was going on. She got the guilts even though I'd tried not to give them. Crap. I tried to explain that both of them had just thrown me for a loop and I was looking forward to spending time with her and just didn't understand what was going on.

C will be part of color guard next year. And she had some sort of CG camp starting in July. So she'd planned her vacation so that she got back the day before CG camp. Suddenly it hit her that her bedroom hadn't been unpacked since the move finished the day she left. Also she wanted to paint it before she unpacked. And if she didn't get back til CG camp there would be no time to do those things plus see her friends. Well, heck, I get all that. I just wish she would have said it out loud before.

Later, E informed me that he really wanted to live with me. After the C conversation, I asked him if he made that decision for himself and not me. He said himself... course, he's supposed to be gone for 2 weeks. Anything can happen.