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Archive for July, 2008

Do you know anyone like my mom?

July 7th, 2008 at 04:48 pm

Ok, we just got back from our summer vacation at the beach. We had a great time in general, but you know how it is… we went to the beach with the whole family (12 people total) and that always means drama. My mom has always been like this but she really irked me this time… let me explain.
Mom has this thing with money. Her whole universe circles around money. I guess that is why she has so much of it now.
She gets on my nerves at times even though I expect it and know she’s like this. Mom wanted to have everyone at the beach this year… She was treating my older sister’s family of 4 to this vacation which is fine with me. They don’t have much money and with two small kids under 2 years old, this was the only way they could go to the beach. But, I do not agree with the fact that she was also treating my younger sister and her husband to the trip as well. Mom was paying for her room even though they have great paying jobs, have no debt, and have no children. Me, DH, and our kids have to fend for our own hotel room which I’m fine with as I should pay my own way but Mom did say that she would pay for a few of my meals. Ok, great… Now, Mom is not a fan of going dutch – if you pay, you pay for everyone… and she expects me to pay for some meals but doesn’t expect my sisters to pay.

Day 1 – Mom pays for dinner at The Olive Garden ($110)
Day 2 – Mom pays for lunch at McDonald’s ($45). I pay for dinner at Subway ($25).
Day 3 – Our little core family goes off on our own during the day but we meet up with everyone for dinner. Mom makes it a point to say that my little sister and her husband paid for lunch at the K&W ($60). What does it matter to me?
Day 4 – I pay for brunch ($97) at a local pancake house, Mom pays for dinner ($75) at Ruby Tuesdays, and then we split up for the evening. When we met up again that night, Mom makes it a point to tell me that my older sister paid for a midnight snack at Burger King ($12). Again, what does it matter to me since I wasn’t there anyway?

When we were leaving the pancake house, my mom hung behind as we all were piling out of the building to check and recount the tip that I left on the table. She already knew how much I left to begin with. Why does she do this? She ALWAYS does this when I pay for any meals. And, why does she make it a point to tell me that my siblings paid for meals when I don’t care. She doesn’t make it a point to tell them when I pay for things… but it’s always been that she wants me to know when they do things “good”. And the argument can’t be made that we just make more because my younger sister and her husband make good money too and without kids, they have more disposable income anyway. Here’s the irony in the whole situation… my older sister, the one without any money and a huge amount of debt, drives a brand new 2008 Town and Country to the beach. My younger sister drives a brand new 2008 Honda Pilot to the beach. DH and I drove our 1996 Toyota Sienna - so you tell me, who out of the group should get more of my mother’s “money attention”? I’m not extravagant by any means but yet I’m under the microscope all the time.

DH and I took our kids to play mini-golf one night and when we got back to the room, the first thing out of mom’s mouth was not “did you have a good time?” but rather “how much did it cost to play”. Same thing when we went to the water park… when we got back, all she cared about was how much it cost to get in…
After spending 4 whole days with her, I guess this just got on my nerves even more than usual. I’m so glad to have gone and spent this time with everyone but let’s just say that I am very glad to be back home too!

So, does anyone else know anyone like my mother or is my mom just very “special” in her own way? 