QUITE a WEEK #1...

OK. First there was the graduation.

I picked my mother up EARLY in the morning and we drove over to the Big Event together; I had done my usual panicked over-reaction to driving an unfamiliar road, and we arrived WAY too early. So we went out and had a cup of coffee. We were so early that I stopped looking at my watch, which was a BIG mistake. By the time we got back on the road and joined the mass migration to the amphitheater where the Fortunate 500 were going to be declared relieved of some $150,000 and therefore educated, we were late.

The ceremony itself was endless, involving not one but five or six speakers, several of whom went on far too long, and several of whom dropped not-too-subtle hints about the duties of alumni and parents... I had to park the car so I was the last to arrive, and was found I was seated, quite sensibly, as far from Isis as possible; I still thought it a little odd that she didn't greet me or look at me.

It got a good deal odder after that. When we finally got out into the pouring rain and found the Newly Liberated Offspring, who was so happy his smile muscles looked frozen, she backed away from us and then whisked our daughter off to head for the restaurant. Because of my last-minute parking saga it took us forever to get out of the parking lot, and the ladies had been sitting eating bread and relaxing for almost half-an-hour by the time we waltzed in.

Still no greeting. I was seated in the middle of the table with my son, my daughter, and Isis on the other side. In theory it was not possible for her to talk to ANYONE else at the table without at least looking at me; she managed to pull it off, and whenever I tried to join a snippet of conversation that might have involved a direct response to me, she found a way of turning it so she talked to someone else about it. It was as if I were not there.

Now, don't get me wrong. I didn't expect her to be overjoyed to see me, but I did SORT of expect to be recognized as sharing the same air-space. It was as if we inhabited different dimensions, with the rest of the company in a space accessible to both. I paid for lunch, of course, as it had been my idea, but I did it with a heavy heart. No "thank you," no "goodbye," no nothing. I loaded my son and my mother into the car and took off to pick up the stuff I was going to store for him. He was going to join his mother and sister later, and spend the evening with them as he had the night before.

That was my big family event.
Be careful what you wish for.

Here's the thing. I don't know what I DID expect. But it sure as hell wasn't THAT. Short of spending the entire time saying really hateful things about me and anyone I cared about, she could hardly have hurt me more.

Yes, I did feel I had to tell her about the Goat right before the event, which was STUPID, but alas unavoidable under the circumstances. What broke my heart was that my son had known how much it meant to me that we all sit down together, and he had asked her to stay and join us. And that was how she acted.

Ouch. A little bit like being run over by a truck...

Well, if Wednesday packs THAT kind of emotional wallop,
I may not make it to Saturday...

Wish me luck...
.