Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Well that was interesting!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Good Sister came for a visit. I think it's good to move away from your family so that you can figure out who you are on your own. But it's nice to stay in touch with family so you can figure out why you are the way you are.

My sister and I have very similar body types, I actually gave her a top that looked better on her than it did on me. And we share a similar concept of time. When I suggested that we visit my office at around 1pm, we were both ready to go by 12:30pm. We got to the airport a good two hours before her flight. But that is about where our similarities end. She's a stay-at-home mom, I'm the single 'career gal'.


She stayed for a long-weekend, and I did my best to show her a good time. She was not at all impressed with the cake I baked & the flowers I bought for her. Nor was she the least bit interested in my knitting or my quilts. Oh and the first thing she said upon entering my apartment was "Man - that is one fat cat!"

I took her to all my favorite parts of Portland; NW 23rd, Finnegans toy store, Saturday Market, Multnomah Falls and to dinner at Kennedy School with some knitting friends. She went along with everything in good humor. But in the whole trip, the only thing she expressed genuine enthusiasm for was the moss. I'm not even kidding. She was very impressed with a neighbor's "use of moss in his landscaping" I laughed - you can't kill that stuff here! Tennessee is in the middle of a drought, so it makes sense... but I really pulled out all the stops for her.

And not that I planned this... I didn't even know about it... but when I took her to my office, former President Clinton was scheduled to give a speech there. We actually saw him enter the building we were in - not more than 15 feet from where we were standing. She's not a big fan of the Clintons... but still, it's not every day you see a former president in real life. When I took her to the airport she said "I know you don't think we did anything exciting, but really it was just good to get away." Dude! Dinner with my knitting friends is about as exciting as my life gets!

I know that what she wanted/needed more than anything was a few days away from home & kids. So I let her sleep in, I did all the cooking & cleaning, we watched a chick-flick together. And she did seem quite happy that she was able to the bathroom without her kids waiting outside the door. Overall I'll call it a success.


But I'm in no hurry to invite her back. ;)

6 comments:

Bezzie said...

Sounds like our visit from BIL. And aw, gee, darn, we live such boring lives that he's always wanting us to visit him now. Much easier to put off those visits. ;-)

P.S. Tell Sally she's pleasantly plump--not fat!

d said...

oh siblings. god love 'em. i'm really glad i have a sister, but omg i can't believe we came from the same place. i really can't imagine what we would do together for an entire weekend. except bicker. a lot.

at least now you have a good few years before you have to invite her back again.

Olga said...

Wow, all the stuff you two did would TOTALLY make my day, thats the kinda stuff I like to do, with lots of coffee drinking and eating sugar interspersed here and there.

IrishGirlieKnits said...

Sounds like a fabulous weekend to me! Bummer about sis though.

Mag said...

Visits from family have been so filled with insults, indifference and torturous drinking and gambling marathons down on the Strip since moving to Las Vegas, that they have tapered off considerably over the years down to none.
My sister has come to my house for these Mommy Retreat/shell shocked four day visits where she just sits on the couch and watches TV and criticizes and complains about all my choices. She values nothing that I value. Not books, not knitting, not thought of any sort. My older sister goes the other way and thinks I am an uneducated buffoon who doesn't know anything about anything, including her things like astronomy and weaving. She citizens everything I do as inferior and will expound as to why. (Which is worse? Ignoring the quilt, or pointing out everything she might imagine is wrong with it? Honestly, the nicer person would ignore it. The bitch would criticize it and the truly exceptional, once in a blue moon person would appreciate it for what it is.)
They were both that way when we lived at home together too.
Nothing has changed. ;)

This is one of the reasons reading Jane Austin can be dangerous to your mental health. The sensitivity and intelligence that those sister characters show towards one another is astounding. The consideration of each other's feelings and respect towards the other's emotional health and privacy is truly shocking to us in the modern world. (Or at least my world.) My siblings and I spent our quality sister bonding years in front of the TV. There was no quiet time to learn to appreciate the fine details of each other's person.

Michael5000 said...

That's a good Portland tour! I haven't been any of those places in a while; maybe I need to host myself around town.