Thanks, Dung Beetle! I guess your good wishes helped – it wasn’t … tooooo bad. She met me in the office’s parking lot, and when I walked up to her car, we had this exchange:
{{ hellos and pleasantries }}
{{ awkward silence, staring at each other }}
Me: Sooooo … uh, what’s up?
Mom: Nothing.
Me: What’d you want to talk about?
Mom: Nothing really. What would ***you ***like to talk about?
Me: :dubious: ***You ***texted me. ***You’re ***the one who wanted to meet.
Anyway, there’s an outdoor seating area nearby for all the masochists who like to eat outside in Texas July summer heat, and since today was cool-ish (thanks, rainy front! ove ya lots!) we sat there to talk.
Lots more awkward silences, lots more staring at each other, but since there were other people around we were both on our best behavior, kept our voices down and the conversation relatively more-or-less civil. We had a few items of business anyway (1. I need them to call the cell phone co. since I stupidly agreed to share a family plan with them back when we were still getting along, and now I can’t upgrade my POS brick and get the hell off their plan until one of them calls to give permission, since it’s not my account, and 2. they have my birth certificate, and they are :dubious:
:mad: at me asking for it, while I am :dubious:
:mad: that they think they should have my documentation.)
Oh, which reminds me: while she didn’t come out and directly ask about New Guy – a pleasant surprise for me – she did express concern that I wanted my birth certificate back because I was planning to get married.
Me: “Uh, you know I’ve already been married once. I didn’t need it then, either.”
Mom: "Well, I’m just concerned that you’re rushing into – "
Me: “I was with {{ The Other Shoe }} for damn near ten years before we got married. I’m not and never have been in any hurry to be married!”
… plus a bunch of other B.S. like this:
Mom: "What does family mean to you?
Me: {internally} People who don’t constantly dick you over, ideally. {externally} Blood kin.
… which, while true, I mostly said to shut down her unrealistic expectation that I’ll have some complete change of heart about my relationship with her and we’ll have this weepy Hallmark moment or something.
Bleah.
Then I had some homemade chicken soup, which salvaged the afternoon nicely. (Guess who made the soup for me?)