A Week Dalí Wouldn't Have Blinked At

Last week, in addition to being the absolute busiest work week, contained more surreal moments than I cared for. It was a week of horrific news with the murder of a co-worker, people who were unexpectedly there for me and those we were expectedly not. I attended two wakes and spent more time in my hometown that I have in years with more family at my Mom's for dinner than normal. It was well worth it though to spent lots of time laughing in the kitchen with the ladies of my family.

One of the wakes was for my former step-grandmother. My dad and second step-mom's divorce effectively rendered former relatives to distant stranger status overnight. It was an interesting wake where I saw people I haven't seen for years (my former step brother and sister for instance.) It was indeed weird. But I went to pay my respects to a woman who treated my brother and I kindly and made sure we were well fed.

I also worked late every night in preparation of the weekend project. Given my coworker, who was my right hand with this process, abruptly quit and left work I was indeed flying solo. Of course, we hit a snag that resulted in my getting less than 2 hours of sleep and working non-stop on Sunday. I am still out of whack with my sleep and need a weekend to catch up.

Political Discourse

The last two weeks have really taken their toll. Drama abounded and it was really too much. Luckily, I had some moments of brief reprieve at the pool. The photo of the sunflowers makes me smile, as it makes me think of sitting by the pool. And also of Nik who enjoyed grazing on that particular plant.

It was while I was visiting my Mom I go to hear the story of her drama that blew all the other drama away. We are a family of rather feisty women. Anyone who knows me will probably not be surprised by that. Well, my Mom decided to speak out against a local political issue that had the local councilor involved in what clearly was an ethics violation.

So my rational Mom decided to speak up. With her five very well thought out talking points, she called the rep. He was clearly not appreciative of my Mom's thoughts and yelled at her, hung up on her, claimed she was harassing him and called the police on her. Yes, called the police. I could understand if my Mom had been irate and yelling, but she was not.

So off to the police station my Mom went. The officer who was handling the case, told my Mom she was not the only one this rep had called the police about. Long story short, my Mom was free to exercise her freedom of speech with no arrest. And had a little field trip to the police station.

This story of course raised my ire. How dare this person pick on my Mom? I am indeed fiercely protective of those I love. I was ready to march down the street to his house and give this man a piece of my mind. Clearly he is not in the right job as a public servant who has to, shockingly, deal with the public.