2 posts tagged “family”
I am fiercely protective and selfish with my time that I have off from work. I’m fortunate to work a 9/80 schedule that allows me to have every other Friday off. And on those Fridays off, I usually have plans to run errands or do some shopping at stores to avoid the weekend crowds. Sometimes though, I’ll sleep in and just watch crappy TV all morning, or read, or do some arts and crafts stuff…and do some dreaded household chores later in the day…ugh. Doesn’t sound very exciting, I know. But, hey, it’s my time and that’s how I choose to spend it. So that’s the usual program for my regular Fridays off. Once in a while I have to do something on an off-Friday due to family obligations. It’s not that often, but still, sometimes I do resent the imposition when family members seem to think they can just plan my day off for me. Don’t they know that watching TV is important to me?! That I actually plan or choose to watch TV on my off-Friday?! Heh. And then when I do take a vacation day off from work that’s not the regular off-Friday, I’m even fiercer (say it like Tyra!) with protecting that time off for myself.
So imagine when a family member (oh, okay…selfish and inconsiderate ooooolder sister who is in the middle of a divorce and has two kids – ooooh…I got lots to say about that soon-to-be-ex-asshole-brother-in-law!) calls me up and says something like this to me: “Hi, it’s me. Do me a favor! Can you watch [Younger Kid] tomorrow for about an hour? You said you are taking tomorrow off so you should be free, right?” Uh….yeah…I’m free from work, sure, but I’m not free to do your bidding, master! I made the mistake of telling her I was taking a vacation day, which I will never, ever do again…telling her that is, not not taking a vacation day ever again. It just makes me so mad that she assumes that I am free to watch her kid (yes, my nephew and I love him very much) because I’m not at work and most likely only have plans to watch unimportant TV all day since I never go out or whatever plans I have don’t matter because it’s just either boring reading or boring housework which I can do while watching her kid. As a matter of fact, I did make some plans to go out shopping in the morning, so there…nyah! Plus this is a vacation day I’m taking. Plus I’m already taking a precious vacation day off next week just to watch both her kids because they are on Spring Break and she couldn’t take the whole week off from work. Plus this isn’t something really where she can’t take Younger Kid with her, although it would require him to sit in a waiting room for a bit. (Twinge of guilt there…hope he knows not to go off with some stranger! He’s old enough to know not to.) Plus this particular day off was planned to make up for some time to myself to relax and de-stress. It is something I need for myself because I just need some me-time and must be totally selfish and put myself first because no one else puts me first! So sad, yes?
Anyway, why do I even need to justify it? This is one little thing this one time I’ve refused. Need I remind her that I once took a whole week off just to babysit Younger Kid?! ONE WHOLE WEEK OF MY PRECIOUS VACATION TIME. FOR FREE. FOR HER. Older Sister’s appointment would cut right into my morning plans and I didn’t want to change them because it would put me off for the whole day. The whole point of doing some shopping in the morning is so I can avoid crowds. She said the appointment would only be an hour or two at the most. I know her…this is not going to take just an hour or two. Plus I’d have to go over to her place to watch Younger Kid, so I can’t even really enjoy babysitting in the comfort of my own home. I’ll be a nanny…an unpaid nanny! If I wanted to “work”, I would have just gone in to work! Of course, I would have the enjoyable company of Younger Kid since I don’t see him that often anymore because of the divorce and the upside-down world where the dumb judge thought it was right to give primary custody of the kids to their jerk of a father. (Oooooh…there will be some asshole-BIL entries coming later.) Well, this isn’t about Younger Kid…it’s about the way Older Sister just assumes I’m free to do what will be best and easiest for her whenever she asks requests. This happens a lot. Well, maybe if it wasn’t such short notice or maybe if she just “asked” me in a less presumptive way, I probably would have given in to her…again. Sigh.
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Ah, an update...there's someone else other than me available to watch Younger Kid tomorrow morning after all. Sheesh.
I don't know why it took me a while to get started on reading Inheritance. It was a fitful beginning (stopping only after reading a couple of pages each day/night when I started the book...dunno why) but having the day off today for Presidents Day, I just started reading and didn't stop until I was finished. The story was somewhat painful to get through...dealt with family dynamics of a Chinese family during the revolutions in 1911 and 1949 and WWII to the 90s...family secrets, a controlling matriarch, bonds betweens sisters and mother and daughters...again...something I can relate to...heh.
Next to read is Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire. I've read all of his other books on the fairy tales, except for Lost which is on my reading list. It's interesting how he weaves the original fairy tale story with his own take on it.
