Wednesday, March 26, 2008

swill and nonsense

a note to myself really quick: i still owe lady macleod a post about tibet, as a microcosm for the entire human race, and my views about all of that.

so my wife is gone this week for training, and in a smaller way, i am reliving last summer. my wife invited my mom to come out and visit and help me with the boys. and i am grateful. mostly.

things you can do with your wife gone and your mom here: clean. drive around hitting all the tourist traps (including a few hours in antiques "malls" (read: cluttered, extremely dusty warehouses with shit piled willy-nilly and naturally overpriced)) . take the kids to their therapies (late) after having missed the school bus (my wife doesn't reset the alarm in the morning, she shuts it off completely). go to the gym (i had a weird thought the other day--it is important to me to not slack on my work-outs with my mom here, so i have been almost militant about needing to go to the gym. it occured to me that from my mom's point of view; the wife is gone, and every day i need to leave the house for a half hour to an hour while the kids are in school. if she didn't know me better (and more importantly, my wife and our relationship), she would no doubt think i was having an affair). take looooong showers (wink wink nudge nudge know what i mean know what i mean). be perpetually tired because i can't sleep at night and don't want to be rude and say "mom, you just dick around here for an hour or two while i take a nap and try to catch up." refrain from beating the kids. lose mind (oh wait, too late!)

i am getting worried about my mom. not like looking-for-hospice-or-nursing-homes scared, but in-the-back-of-my-mind-saving-it-for-a-rainy-day concerned because i see her being what might otherwise be considered absent-minded.

in the car on the way to take wife to the airport, my mom was telling some story to my wife:

mom: "oh, what was his name?"

wife: waits expectantly with an interested look on face.

me: "robin williams."

mom: "he used to do comedy, but lately he has been doing serious roles as well, and he is a really good actor."

wife: tennis-heading between mom and me, secret smile on face.

me: "robin williams."

mom: "he won some award for that movie he did with the two friends from boston."

wife: trying not to laugh, "robin williams?"

mom: "that's it! robin williams."

me: stares blankly.

she is also beginning to show signs of adult-onset racism.

"i think obama has muslim ties and i don't want him to be president."

"i got some foreign lady, and i could hardly understand what she was saying her accent was so thick."

"well, they keep sending all our jobs overseas, it's a wonder anybody's working at all."

and lots of others that i have completely blocked out, because i simply can't wrap my head around the fact that the woman who did the most for instilling in me a sense of universalism, and that we are all equal, and to not prejudge, and not stereotype could, at this point, say some of what she does. and i find i don't even know how to handle it.

for now, i will leave you with that, o my beloved non-existant readers. i am sure there was more, but my mind has more or less completely emptied on me and i feel the burning need for mindless entertainment.

darth sardonic

Labels: , , ,

3 Comments:

Blogger jenny said...

You too?? My mom is going through the same thing: adult onset racism.
I find it weird to hear her say such things and I'm not quite sure how to react to that.

I enjoy having mom visit, though, so enjoy her visit while you can. :o)

By the way, I'll do the tag on my next post.. I've been thinking about what words I would use.

5:06 PM  
Blogger zirelda said...

My mother says Obama is a covert muslim and refuses to believe in global warming. Whatever....

I know what you mean though. I grew up with people coming up to my mother and talking to her and then her turning to me after they left saying, "Who was that anyway?" At least I got used to it early.

Gotta love the folks.

6:54 PM  
Blogger darth sardonic said...

jenny, it's disturbing isn't it? i'd either ignore or verbally bash most people, but with mom, it's confusing. she's noticed me giving her looks though when she says something i find racist.

yep z, as stephen wright would say, "you can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em." lol

3:43 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home