The Weekend
I am so very tired this morning. This time change is killer.
Blah.
The weekend was stressful.
Well, Friday and Saturday were, anyways.
Friday night was no fun. I really tried to have a good attitude, but oh my gosh. Jen's sister HC drove. I thought I was going to die. She talked on the cell phone and turned around to talk to us in the back seat... in the middle of I-85 in Atlanta!!!! I was so nervous, I had a migraine by the end of the night from all the tension.
Hard Rock was as I remembered... I really don't understand the big deal people make over that place...especially on Friday night. It was so loud, I couldn't hear what Jen was saying, and she was sitting RIGHT NEXT TO ME. The food isn't that spectacular, and the service was certainly not up to par. (Jen, the birthday girl, didn't get her food until the rest of us were finished eating.)
Mm hm.
So we finally got back to Athens to have cake with "the boys." We arrived a little after midnight, despite the fact that we had told them we would be back by 10:30pm.
By the time we got back, I was tired and I had a migraine the size of Texas.
So B and I just went home.
Now, perhaps I am just getting old. Perhaps it's just the pregnancy hormones.
But that was a miserable night for me.
Still, it was Jen's bday. And I think she had fun.
That's what matters, I suppose.
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Saturday morning I worked for 2-3 hours with JS. She brought her daughter along because her babysitter backed out at the last minute.
After work, she had a job interview. Then she had to go visit her grandfather who is in the hospital dying. Then she had to go clean a lady's house (because that is her second job) and she was going to have to drag R (her daughter) along with her.
So I volunteered to take her to the lake with me. They both were very excited about it.
Hm.
But the day ended up breaking my heart.
You see, JS lives with an abusive husband (R's step-dad). She got preggo when she was 16, married R's dad, who abused her. JS got preggo again. He got mad one night, threw her over the back of the couch onto a glass coffee table, causing her to lose the baby.
So she finally left him.
R was about three.
A few years later, JS married BS... her current husband. He lost his license because he wouldn't pay his ticket(s). So she drives him everywhere. He has cheated on her in the past, and she thinks he's cheating now. There is a dent in the side of her van where he threw her against it. He doesn't take notice of R, that is, unless she does something wrong, in which case he says, "JS, tell YOUR daughter to..." while R is standing right there.
And still, JS won't leave him because "he might change."
*grrrrr*
Anyways... I knew all the when I asked R to come with me to the lake.
And we had a good time.
We went by WalMart on the way there and got her two new pair of flip flops (because her only "play" shoes were black, mary-jane style heels), a pair of sunglasses, and a couple sticker/craft books to play with at the lake.
We also went by the house and got Pippin, because she "loves playing with puppies."
Finally, we headed off to the lake. Once there, she rode her scooter, played with Pippin, did crafts with her new books, rode the boat with my family, went on a golf cart ride with my dad, ate fried fish that my dad had caught the night before, and finally crashed in the house wathing TV.
Around 8:30pm, JS called and said she was coming to pick R up. I told R to get her stuff together so we could go meet her mom in town.
And this is what broke my heart...
Immediately, her head dropped. She started moving very slowly to get her stuff. And she started sucking her thumb. (Keep in mind, she is 8 years old.)
She rode in the back seat while B and I drover her down the road. On the way (about a 15 minute car ride), she asked THREE TIMES...
"Why can't I spend the night?"
"Why do YOU get to spend the night, and not me?
"Why can't I just stay with you?"
Finally, we arrived at the designated meeting place, and started getting her stuff out of the car.
I scooted my seat up and started to help her get out...
But she started crying.
Very quietly, "I don't want to go home."
I tried to take her hand, and tell her that she needed to give her mom the present she had made for her with her crafts.
But she recoiled away and said again, "I want to spend the night with you!"
Finally, as B and JS finished up looking at her car (she said it had been making funny noises on the way down the road), R emerged from the car...
Because I told her I needed her to hold Pippin for me.
When JS saw her, she said, "Aww. Somebody looks tired."
I wanted to say, "No, stupid, she's not tired. SHE IS SCARED TO GO HOME!!!"
But, what was I going to do?
It's not my child.
And I know that R herself is not abused. He just ignores her.
So I prayed... a lot... as I went to sleep that night.
I told JS that R could come stay with me ANY TIME!!
That's all I know to do.
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Sunday was much more relaxing.
Woke up early and went on a golf cart ride with my dad to get some coffee.
Then had breakfast with my Dad, P (his wife) and B.
Afterwards, we all went on a boat ride (where I got nice and burned... *yay* for tans).
Finally, I drove home, took a nap, woke up, and watched a couple movies while cuddled up on the couch with B.
This was, by far, the best day of the weekend.
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So that's it. Nothing too spectacular.
Going to do some work now... maybe.
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