Ugh. Just ugh.

I was responsible for picking my mom up from school (work) today, due to the fact that my sister had basketball practice and my dad had to go back to work.

To better understand this story, a little exposition is needed.

Due to being poor, my mom's family of six (or is it seven?) kids never had a car. She took the bus everywhere. Because they couldn't afford a car, she never learned to drive, and hasn't to this day. That means whenever she needs a ride anywhere, whether it be to the mall or to the grocery store, one of us has to give her a ride. With our individual schedules growing increasingly more busy, this is tougher than it seems.

Today I was asked to pick her up. I am rarely asked to do this. Admittedly I often complain very subtly. I'll respond with a coarse, "ok" or "all right." Today they asked, told me that they couldn't pick her up at her usual time of 4:00, and I was very polite. I just gave a simple "ok" with no tone or sign of it being a burden.

Needless to say I forgot. In fact, I forgot last time too. She called me while I was with G and B and asked me to pick her up. I felt bad that I had forgotten. I wasn't late. It wasn't like it was 4:30 and I had totally blanked it out. She called me at 3:57. I told her I was on my way home to pick her up.

I didn't want to leave my friends waiting either. And since we had just gone to eat and I still had half of my food slowly cooling down, I wanted to make this trip as fast as I could.

I called when I arrived to pick her up from my car. This doesn't work with my mom. Because unless you're in her classroom waiting for you and she can see that you're waiting, she'll continue to chat with her assistant. Because of this, after calling her and telling her I was there, I headed into the classroom immediately to rush things.

As always, she wasn't ready. I don't mean this in a "I have to tie up loose ends" kind of way, because that would be more understandable. She hadn't put the chairs on the desk. She hadn't shut down the computer. She hadn't set the alarm. She knew I was coming, called me in fact, and wasn't prepared with the little things. She could have been doing this instead of making small talk with the assistant.

After this, she asked me to carry one of the three items out the door. One was a bucket of Lego's that was in a container that was the size and shape (in fact it may have been) of a gallon plastic bucket of ice cream. The other items were a bag of large pieces of paper that were the size of poster board and a fax machine, which I carried.

I joked with her how my sister always has three or so items with her and acts like it's such a struggle. She didn't take this well as I later found out. Honestly, this still frustrates me slightly. She has a house key, but whenever she has even one item in her hand (same goes for my sister) she'll ring the doorbell rather than use her key. Nevermind the fact that *every single day* I have a backpack full of overpriced college textbooks that I'm sure weighs at least 40 lbs, the face to my cd player, three or four cd's, a 44 oz. drink, a bag of food, my keys and a jacket to carry in the house all while attempting to both lock the door to my car and to unlock the door to the house. Nevermind that I do that without help.

So I take her to the main headquarters. As soon as she gets in the car, she gives me the address and the coordinates of it as if I've never been there before. I felt insulted.

I drop her off and head back to G's, where we enjoyed an afternoon of Seinfeld and The Simpsons. I come home, and my mom asks my dad if he picked up the candy for her in class Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

He forgot.

He forgot, he forgot, he forgot.

My mom isn't happy that he forgot, he gets a bit upset with her that she isn't happy that he forgot, and then she does something that I honestly can't stand.

She changes the subject to take the heat off of her and onto me.

She told my dad that I unwillingly picked her up. That was a lie. She told him that I was uncooperative about picking her up. That was a lie. She told him that I put my friends before her. That was a lie. I didn't do that deliberately. I honestly forgot that I was to pick her up. The only truth was that I had forgot.

Suddenly, not only has she not come straight to me about any issues she had, but she's lied *and* she's gone to my dad *only* to deflect his anger over him forgetting something onto me.

I hear this conversation about me, and come out of my room. It begins with attempts by my dad at making me feel guilty, continues with my mom acting more hurt over things than she is, and concludes with me attempting to convince him that he shouldn't be mad at me for forgetting (because this was his main gripe) to pick her up when he just minutes before in a previous discussion had forgot to do something for her.

The other thing that I had issue was the trip to the main headquarters on the other side of the city. She always tells me that she'll be "in and out" knowing she'll leave me waiting for at least 15 minutes. But I'm not allowed to complain. Guess who is and does? My father. I made a note to her that if she knows she's going to be more than a few minutes (which she always is. I don't recall her being less than 15) that she should tell me that she'll be awhile. Instead, she always tells me that she'll be in and out whether it be dropping off timesheets, meeting with her boss or meeting with a parent about a child. Hopefully, remembering this part will make things better in the future. It's the only part I have issue with. I don't mind picking her up, but I do mind that she tells me she'll be in and out when she knows that's not the case.

It's somewhat resolved. The guilt didn't work, and as the defense, I was able to lay my argument on the table without resorting to acting and lying in the cross examination.

I can't help that I'm frustrated by the carrying things part of the story. It's pure laziness that everyone else expects the house to drop anything that they are doing to get the door when the person not only has a key, but has it in their hands. They can set down their cake, or their bag of groceries, or their laptop or their duffle bag. They don't have to ring the bell causing someone to leave the food they're cooking when setting something down and using a key would suffice.

I suppose you could claim laziness on my part, but I only get frustrated when they have a small item or two like those mentioned above. It's also that I can be too independant. If I can do something myself, I will.

Hypocritical is today's word of the day. My dad forgets something she needs him to do, and then he lectures me for forgetting. My sister complains about how awful my mom complains about everything from her car to the volume of the radio when she gives her a ride, and then lays into me about how mean I am for guess what? Complaining when she complains about my stereo being on too loud (at 3) and over my badly deteriorating car. She has a tone in her voice when I oversleep 20 minutes, but I never say a word when she forgets to wake me up.

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