Not My Night
I had to work late.
I tried to catch my 6:15 train only to see it driving away. Hmmph.
So, I walked to the LaSalle station to catch THAT train. Only to walk up about 5 minutes after the train left. Hmmph Hmmph.
So, I sit here in LaSalle station until the train leaves at 7:40 to arrive in Joliet at 9:05.
I normally like mass transit. However, tonight, I think mass transit could use some fine tuning. Chicago's mass transit system is enormous and yet, not big enough.
My wife has offered to come pick me up. I said to her "Really, by the time you get here the train will be leaving. I will see you in Joliet. This will not be nearly as much of an issue when we have the truck. God bless your Mom. She has no idea how greatful I am."
What do I mean? Well, my mother-in-law is gifting us her Ford Ranger pickup. How cool is that?! This means I don't have to leave the Queen at home without a vehicle. My MIL and I have not always seen eye to eye. Fact is, I really didn't give her as much credit as I should.
This brings me to my point (as I almost always have one). First impressions are not always the right impressions. Also, people CAN change. The Queen's Mom used to be very critical of my Queen and would not give her the respect I felt she deserved as an adult. After a rather heated disagreement which included name calling, silent treatments, nuclear arms races and moving to Illinois, she came to the realization that she actually DOES know how to be a responsible adult.
Then after moving to Illinois, the MIL would criticize how the Queen was raising (parenting) Avery. After spending a week in my wifes shoes, that opinion changed as well.
Growing up is so hard on the parents. It is hard on my Mother-in-Law, and it is hard on me. It is hard for me to see Jami living the hard life and learning the lessons I know are important for her to know. It is hard to see her trying to figure out her purpose without the want or need of my guidance and experience. I think of her and miss her.
Did you know...
Nearly one third of the teachers in New York City send their children to private school.
I tried to catch my 6:15 train only to see it driving away. Hmmph.
So, I walked to the LaSalle station to catch THAT train. Only to walk up about 5 minutes after the train left. Hmmph Hmmph.
So, I sit here in LaSalle station until the train leaves at 7:40 to arrive in Joliet at 9:05.
I normally like mass transit. However, tonight, I think mass transit could use some fine tuning. Chicago's mass transit system is enormous and yet, not big enough.
My wife has offered to come pick me up. I said to her "Really, by the time you get here the train will be leaving. I will see you in Joliet. This will not be nearly as much of an issue when we have the truck. God bless your Mom. She has no idea how greatful I am."
What do I mean? Well, my mother-in-law is gifting us her Ford Ranger pickup. How cool is that?! This means I don't have to leave the Queen at home without a vehicle. My MIL and I have not always seen eye to eye. Fact is, I really didn't give her as much credit as I should.
This brings me to my point (as I almost always have one). First impressions are not always the right impressions. Also, people CAN change. The Queen's Mom used to be very critical of my Queen and would not give her the respect I felt she deserved as an adult. After a rather heated disagreement which included name calling, silent treatments, nuclear arms races and moving to Illinois, she came to the realization that she actually DOES know how to be a responsible adult.
Then after moving to Illinois, the MIL would criticize how the Queen was raising (parenting) Avery. After spending a week in my wifes shoes, that opinion changed as well.
Growing up is so hard on the parents. It is hard on my Mother-in-Law, and it is hard on me. It is hard for me to see Jami living the hard life and learning the lessons I know are important for her to know. It is hard to see her trying to figure out her purpose without the want or need of my guidance and experience. I think of her and miss her.
Did you know...
Nearly one third of the teachers in New York City send their children to private school.
Comments
First, i'm so jealous of the train transit you have in Chicago. I would say it makes life easier for commuters. Here in Fallon, I'm having a hard time finding a job that would coincide with the commuting hours. We have a mini-bus system here but it's not like a big bus in the city. And they only go from 7am to 5pm.
Who says parenting is easy? I have observed parenting from both cultures here in America and back in the Philippines. Different ways but same "goal".
Speaking of MIL's. We'll be visiting my mom-in-love this Spring Break.
Take care Tatonka :o)
Dude, your comment on the state of hired help in the world these days is righteous...
RE: MIL and your "new" truck. Fantastic. I am currently in possession of a 1995 Cougar XR7 in my driveway. It has sort-of given to me by my mom, as a) there's no way anyone would ever let her behind the wheel anymore and b) with our SUVs, I can't take her anywhere because she can't get IN our trucks. Since I've had it, it's worth its weight in gold because with all of our cars needing work, rental cars for the day aren't an option. And since my car is the last to be fixed, and we have no money, guess what I'm driving... Doesn't even matter what kind of truck you get - it's transpo. Congrats.
My MIL does the "guarded compliment" thing with J. When he was growing up, they never, ever went to one of his band concerts. They dropped him off, because they were always "too busy". Now that he's older, and with me as well, any job well done always has a caveat - "That looks great, but you could ALSO have done (insert something trivial to completely change what you've accomplished)." Loaded compliments. I kept her away from making those to M as she was growing up. and the ones she did, I always summed it up to M, "That's just Grandma... you have to ignore some of the stuff she says."