Raggedy Ann

Did you ever see Raggedy Ann after she'd been left out in the mud and mauled by dogs a few months? That's how I feel

The "exes" have all gone. The weekend spent with them, for all intents and purposes, went swimmingly, with the exception of my exhusband's new wife. My ex-MIL and FIL were charming and kind; shame they weren't like that when we split up.

I spent the week before they arrived in a high state of mania. I cleaned/worked for hours on end and slept minimally and fitfully. I lived in a constant state of agitation and irritation. My skin hurts. My hair hurts. I can't breathe. Still can't.

Having my older children arrive was both a blessing and a bane, as I always do my damdest to sheild them from the craziness that's going on inside. I didn't do so well this time, as on Thursday morning, my oldest son got a fairly good look at it. He simply watched and said he didn't know what to do. Honest answer.

The new wife made her presence known as soon as she walked into my home. I had been getting ready for the grad, and was ironing clothing for the group; I had fifteen minutes to spare, and two pairs of pants and three shirts left. One of my sons brought me his shirt, and it had a tiny hole in it. I mentioned it, said he needs to do better on preparation for big events, then let it go. I ironed his shirt, gave it back and he put it on. The hole, no bigger than a pinhead, was barely visible. Then I went back to my work.

But when the new wife walked in, it was the FIRST THING she saw. She didn't say hi to anyone, just SON YOU HAVE A HOLE IN YOUR SHIRT! BO, GET ME A SEWING KIT. I'LL FIX THAT. SON, WHY WOULD YOU BRING THAT. Well, he didn't notice it. It was small, and this is a mildly learning disabled child who's just turned 21 and is finding his way into adulthood. He doesn't much care that there was a tiny hole in his shirt. There are plenty of other ways that he's doing absolutely fantastic and a tiny hole is really not the end of the world. Anyway....JUST BRING ME THE WHOLE BOX, I'LL FIND THE RIGHT COLOUR.

Well, I had the right colour from something else, and thought, what the hell, let the bitch sew if she wants to. But what she did, right off the bat, was walk into my home and show immediately to my ex-inlaws that she is a better parent than I am. It burned. How it burned! Because I can act, I let it go, told her thank you, and it looked lovely, and moved on. But inside, I was pretty much on fire.

Then she told him that it was nice he got his hair cut before he came to see us. Except.......

He got his hair cut WITH ME...the day before. It just doesn't occur to her to ask.

During graduation, as my husband stood during his 10 second window of opportunity to take pictures of our graduate, she took that opportunity to ask him about the price of laptops and what brands to buy..........

After we got to the restaurant we had picked out, she criticized that. We went to a rather upscale restaurant in our city. She decided it was loud and left ear plugs in her ears and made a production of pulling them out each time someone spoke to her. When her meal came, and everyone was ooo-ing and ahhhh-ing over theirs, she poked at hers and sent it back: "This is not chicken breast. I cannot eat it." Now it's of interest to note that on the menu, it is not DESCRIBED as chicken breast.

When we finally left that evening, we thought we were done; nooooo. We were invited for brunch the next day. 9am at IHOP. Ok, fine. But at 8am we get a phone call from her saying that she was walking to Starbucks for coffee and muffins. Uh....how are we going to have brunch at Starbucks?So I talked to the graduate and he just decided to push the group back over to IHOP. SHE, however, did not attend. She left to watch tv in the hotel. We thought....ahhhhh, this will be nice!

Unfortunately, halfway through breakfast, she showed up and started tasting and criticizing food. Didn't order her own, just tasted and criticized everyone else's. I had been talking to the ex's parents, and was actually enjoying it. I thought maybe they were, too, but once she got there, that stopped fairly soon. She's not good at not having the spotlight on her.

Oddly enough, or fittingly enough, she and the redheaded girl get along GREAT.

Once at the airport, my ex got all the boarding passes for six people for three legs of a trip....that's 18 boarding passes. They were in an envelope together. What did she do? Yanked them out and dropped them on the table, and started flingling them about. His face fell a foot. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She said, "Handing them out." "They were in ORDER!"

Well, not any more. It took 30 minutes to get THAT mess fixed up. It's the first time I've ever seen him actually ANGRY with her, but it's a classic example of the type of shit she does.

Now I'm home, and I'm alone. My baby will be gone soon, and the redheaded girl has kept him out of the house constantly for two weeks, and when she doesn't, he manages to do it alone. He's popular, and all his friends are having parties all over the place. I don't begrudge him that. But I feel like I have nothing left, and the mania of the past two weeks has crashed in a most spectacular manner. Six hours of rocking, crying, snotting, keening tears last night; I'm highly medicated, but it's just barely keeping me on track. It's sorta....walking a tightrope. I'm not sure what's going to happen in the next few days or week, except that my husband and I will talk about how to get the little redhead chick out of our house.

I'm so lost. If anyone has a loader, I'd pay good money for them to come move this rock off my chest and help me get back on my feet and show me where I am.

Bo