This thread is to share those stories about someone's actions (or lack of action) that make you go "What?..wait..WHAT?!" It can be a family member, friend, co-worker, neighbor…someone with an extreme sense of entitlement….whatever, you get the idea. I have several stories, but I’ll start off with this one: My dad was a domineering control freak. He was in charge of everyone and every situation (or so he thought), and all his life he loved to order people around. Once when I’d just bought a new car I went on a planned weekend visit to see out-of-town friends (instead of staying in town to spend time with a group of freeloading distant relatives who had taken the Greyhound and dropped in unannounced on Dad and also some other relatives). I got home from my trip on a Sunday evening about 9pm and was getting ready to take a hot bubble bath. (Had to get up early next morning for work) ...heard the phone. Ring-ring. Me: Hello? Dad: I want you to come pick up (distant relatives) and take them home (about a 300 mile round trip drive). Me: (What?…wait…WHAT?) I just got home. I’m tired and have to work tomorrow. Dad: Well, you have a new car. I told them you wouldn’t mind. Me: You shouldn’t have volunteered my services. Dad: (angry) So what are they supposed to do? Me: I have no idea. Gotta go. 'Bye.
I just remembered one person that probably fits a few of your posts, Arlene. I called him the Freeloader. My husband met in the 80's through work. He invited him to dinner once and that's was fine with me. My husband would do that periodically and I didn't mind but I wanted a day warning. He usually obliged. Anyway, somehow after this evening for the next 20 years this person would drop by out of the blue, usually late at night, ring the bell and come in. Of course he hadn't eaten, he always had a duffel bag of clothes in his car and always ended up having dinner, spending the night, the breakfast and would then leave. Then his visits were longer...a few days, a week, the longest was almost a month. He never called when he was coming. I'm not even sure I know where he lived or worked. He made himself very comfortable and I even caught him looking in my kitchen cabinets once. Asked him what he was looking for, he asked if I had any vitamins. I said "no" then he proceeded to try and sell me Some from Amway. I was so sick of him that I told my husband that he better not ever show up on out front porch Again because I wasn't letting him in. Of course this continued, sometimes we didn't see him for a year or two, then ding dong, it's the FreeLoader. He actually turned up at our house In Hungary, was that a shock! He had followed us to our different homes in different states but Hungary?! He was a kind of a con artist, always some get rich quick scheme he was talking about. Think he didn't even live anywhere except visited people that he knew. I had forgotten all about him, even my kids when they were young thought he was a weird guy. Wonder if they remember the FreeLoader? He must have died or lost track of us because he hasn't knocked on my door in Fresno yet. Only home he hasn't been to. I don't know if this is even what you are asking about Arlene but it's the longest thing I've written, so you're stuck with it.
I guess my first "What ...wait ... What" situation was when I was 13, and had been in my arranged marriage about four or five months. I got sick so my 'husband' sent me to the doctor. If it hadn't been me I guess I would love to have seen my face when the doctor told me I was pregnant. The poor man had to actually explain to me how that happened. I didn't know. I thought it totally unfair, and asked him why my husband couldn't undo what he had done, I wasn't ready to be a mother. That poor doctor looked so sadly at me.
Yikes, Ina...I knew you married at 13 and had your first child but the reality of it just hit me. At 13 I was still so naive. Probably played jacks on my porch and it was when I was first allowed to go to the movies at night with a group of friends....saw Goldfinger.
Yes I too was naive about many things at that age, but everything changed for me. I can remember a song that kept running through my mind at the time. It had a lyric in it that said, "Stop the world and let me off." Then it became, "What condition my condition was in." After a while it was, "I am woman hear me roar". Then came, "The rose". The last on my list was, "I'm the happiest girl in the whole USA". I haven't found a new one yet. But they all came with, "What ... Wait .... What", events through my life.
@Linda Binning , back then it was sad, but life is full of lessons and challenges, and I must have had many to learn. I am a survivor, and I learned perseverance. Now, I admit I didn't see it that way in the beginning, but by the time I was 35 I had begun to see the growth that came from the struggles. I have accomplished much in my life, mainly because I was determined to succeed, and I refused to give up. I don't know why some of us have an easier life than other, but I do know that life is what we make of it, and I was always trying to bring "normalcy" to my children. A lot of times parents just don't realize just how important they can be or aren't in their children's lives. Raising myself without the benefit of attentive parents to be a decent person was my greatest challenge as a child. But I do wonder if my children had been born to me a 24 and 26, instead of at 14 and 16, if they might not have had a better chance of survival. Had they lived they would be 48 this month on St. Patrick's day, and 50 in May. But I am still here and I do not hate. Life must still have something in store for me, and I'm crossing my fingers that from now on life will be full of peace for me.
That is a good answer Ina. I know I've learned a lot just from reading your posts. A month or so ago, on another forum, I went back and read your posts for the last year and a half or so. It helped me more than you could imagine. I'll be thinking of you on Mar 17th, I had a brother who was still born on that day so its always a day of reflection for me.