Sometimes Family Can Drive You To Drink

(I have been my mother’s caregiver for about eleven years. We have no car right now.)

Me: “Mom, please let me fix you something to eat. I’ve offered you everything we have in the house.”

Mom: “No. I don’t want any of that stuff.”

Me: “All of it is stuff you have eaten before. I’m not offering you anything you don’t like.”

Mom: “But I don’t want it. I want something different.”

Me: “I know that, normally, I would just go get you something, but you know we don’t have a car right now.”

Mom: “I am going to call your sister and tell her to bring me something to eat.”

Me: “Mom! You know that she doesn’t drive! Why would you want to bother her when you could just let me fix you something? Mom, please be reasonable. Just let me fix you something.”

Mom: “She has friends who drive. They won’t mind bringing me something I want.”

(Mom called my sister, told her she was hungry, and asked her to bring her something good. Not long after, my sister showed up. She stalked in and handed Mom a plate of food. She did not look at me or even speak to me to find out why Mom had called her. Then, she stalked back out. Shortly thereafter, there was a post on Facebook about someone who was so lazy that she would not even fix her mother something to eat. I was very hurt by the assumption that was made and publicly broadcast.)