One more day

Back to work tomorrow. I always complain about how long and dreary January looks at the beginning and then I am always surprised by how quickly it passes when it comes to the end of the month. Ah, well. We will see this year.

Yesterday I was greeted with an e-mail from sister 1956 (K). Chaos from the eve before. I had purchased pork and kraut and other fixings for the New Year and figured why fix it at home where my daughter and her beau will just turn their noses up at it. If they got up at all. They went to an all night skate party and got home at 3 a.m. I guess they didn't make it all night. Getting old at 19 and 20. LOL!

So, I packed all my goodies and turned the car South. Sister 1956(K) caught me at the halfway point. She had to get out of the house. It had become a very volatile situation. I made a phone call and we found that sister 1949(O) was home and we were more than welcome to come to her house. She was pleasantly surprised because I brought enough food for an army (as usual) and we had a huge meal. Her (O) crew came in shifts and we spent the day trying to work things out of this family mess.

Sister 1956(K) will be staying with Sister 1949(O) for a while (closer to her work than my house). She stayed with me in 2003 during a similar volatile situation. She just keeps going back. It only gets ugly every 5 years or so, but still. We just sigh. You can't force a person's hand. They have to figure things out for themselves.

Sister 1954(B) was a loose cannon. As is her nature when she drinks. She should not drink. After spending a third of her adult life in prison because of alcohol you would think that she would do whatever she could to stay out. But, sometimes you have to wonder if prison is her safe house.

In a nutshell Sister 1954(B) (who is a passive-aggressive nutcase) used to date Sister 1956's(K) husband (who is a manic - depressive psycho). This is all self-diagnosed by me. I am not a professional but you really don't have to be to see what I have seen for over 30 years. For the record my niece is a licensed professional and she finally witnessed the manic-depressive in his manic stage at Thanksgiving. "Oh, yeah" she said. She has known him for 30 some years and this was the first time she saw him in his "manic" stage. usually he stays home from family get togethers' or is very quiet (rather depressed).  He has the "classic" symptoms. Fortunately his manic episodes only happen every 5 to 10 years but they are getting worse as each episode appears. So over the past decade it has progressed to an ugly state very quickly. So much that I am worried for Sister 1956's(K) well being. But again, she has to give herself permission to set herself free. We cannot do it for her.

Anyway, Sister 1954(B) really created havoc on New Years' eve at Sister 1956's(K) house. She was uninvited. Nobody invites her anywhere if they know alcohol may be involved. She invites herself. She finds some poor, desperate loser to drive her around. She charges in like a bull in a china shop. Here is a snip-it of her conversation "I have lost SO much weight, look how pretty I am!" She then proceeds to dance around like she is some dancer on Solid Gold. This is a 56 year old woman. Another snip-it would be "Brother 1957(N) is dying from lung cancer!"  Brother 1957(N) will not even speak to her so this statement holds no truth to it. And the best one "Your wife is having an affair with your cousin!"  Referring to Sister 1956(K) who was in the bedroom attempting to sleep through this monstrosity of a gathering.

Sister 1956's(K) husband (in his manic state) chooses to believe this lie. Chaos ensues. Sister 1956(K) at one time dated her husband's cousin, over 35 years ago and has no idea where this guy is and has not even seen him in over 25 years.

WTF? Really? I want to punch her(B) (Sister 1954) in the face or strangle her.  But I cannot. I think of my mom. I think of my niece and my nephew (both like my children but are biologically HER children; because I helped to raise them).

Again, I guess it is just a matter of time before she(B) is locked up again. If she is acting like this six months after her release, it is just a countdown. Another countdown.

My mom once told me that our dad would do this when he drank. He would think (or pretend) that she (my mom) was somebody else and beat up on her. I was spared most of the violence, being the youngest. Again, by the time I came along - most of the chaos had passed.

Medication is a moot point. The person who needs the medicine does not believe there is anything wrong with them. Everybody else is crazy - not them. Everybody else is wrong.

Yeah. I often wonder how 8 children (coming from the same set of parents) can all turn out so differently. Could be a birth order child development issue.