. Problematic snow
They're calling for 3-6 inches of the white stuff overnight tonight and ending tomorrow a.m. around 9 am. It could also be more snow (6-10"), or less (1-3").
One good thing is that it's due to end snowing around 9 am, so that will give me a chance to a) shovel my driveway and b) decide whether to drive the 1.5 hours to my cousin's house for Christmas. And back, same day.
I really would like to go: today I'm making my cranberry 3-nut pie (really good) and I wrapped all her presents last night.
However, I'm wondering if holiday traffic with the snow will make the roads a mess, lengthening my drive and fraying nerves. My friend R. is urging me not to go becus it's not worth the risks, he says.
I'm going to play it by ear and make a decision tomorrow morning.
My father is in the same boat...his plans were to drive down to NJ today, spend the night there with his brother-in-law and extended second family), and return tomorrow morning becus he says he doesn't want to "be in the way" during the kids' gift opening. It's just his preference. I hope if he goes (he's to call me today to let me know) he just stays there longer before heading back to CT so the roads are in better shape.
My crazy, mixed-up cousin
To complicate things even further, I got an unexpected call from my other cousin in PA, telling me he wanted to visit between Christmas and New Year's.
We talked at length. There's a lot going on with him. Basically, he's a 70-year-old man who's fallen in love with a 22-year-old stripper who's now in drug rehab. When he told me about it a few months ago, he said he knows exactly what he's doing and he knows what the risks are (that she'll use him for his money and manipulate him to get what she wants and then leave him... he's fairly wealthy).
But he doesn't believe he'll live for many more years becus of a variety of health issues, including prostate cancer, and after a very unhappy marriage for years to a woman with mental illness and multiple addictions, he I guess sees the possibility of having fun with someone young enough to be his granddaughter.
I pointed out the common threads between his father, his wife, and now the young woman, and I said trying to help this young woman could be a full-time job. Are you sure that's what you want to be doing at this point in your life? He said he had nothing to lose, and prior to meeting her, felt he already had one foot in the grave already and really had nothing to live for.
His own 2 daughters are very angry with him and are wondering if he's gone senile. His relationship with his daughters was not great to begin with, so I doubt spending Xmas with either of them was an option.
Christmas Day plans
I told him of my plans for Xmas and my dad's, and we agreed J. would come up the day AFTER Xmas and stay thru week's end. He said he had plans to spend Xmas eve and Xmas day with his friend's family.
He also thanked me for my advice given a few weeks ago about the young woman and said that after several attorneys he talked to reinforced my views he should just walk away (the lawyer said "these things never end well") he was going to do just that.
Yesterday, he called me back and totally changed these plans, telling me he was now going to come up Christmas day and was not going to spend any time with his friend/friend's family. He had already made the motel reservations.
When I reminded him neither me or dad would be around when he arrived, he said he'd forgotten I had told him that and said it was ok, he still wanted to come. It's a 7-hr trip for him from where he lives. I warned him about the snow; he drives a 4 wheel drive truck and says he's never gotten stuck and isn't concerned.
He said 2017 had been a very difficult year and just wanted to get away. (The way he met the young woman was thru his grand-son, also unemployed, no high school
These last-minute changes are kind of throwing me a little but I'm trying to accommodate as best we can.
He also told me he'd changed his mind about the woman and was going to see her in rehab. She just agreed to extend her stay in rehab for a full year (after being there a few months) and he feels, based on his experience with his late wife who he put in rehab about 10 times, were a complete waste of time, they essentially brainwash you and so on. He wants to try to talk her into coming to live with him, and he would help her get her driver's license, buy her a car, help her get a job and so on. Right now, her infant baby is being raised by her aunt and grandmother.
I tell my dad all this stuff and he just shakes his head.
I have to go back to work Wednesday, so I guess if J. does come tomorrow and I end up not driving to Jersey due to the snow, I'll see more of J. I'd really like to do both though. Both dad and I do like him, notwithstanding all the stuff going on with this young woman. He worked as a pharma sales rep for years and enjoyed success in his career, but his marriage, as I mentioned, was hellish. His wife died of a drug overdose and his daughter found her with an empty whiskey bottle in her hand, in bed. J.'s father was also an alcoholic schizophrenic and he's told me many stories about that.
When he was still working, he was a very private person, not wanting to reveal the troubled family situation.
So back to my Xmas plans. A lot is up in the air. I'm just glad the snow is forecast to end by 9 am so that gives me 1.5 hours before I leave to assess the condition of the roads and make a decision.
Oh no
Just got a call from my one remaining active freelance client; he's in the IT field, very senior level, and has been trying to find a new position for the past 6 months or so. He's a finalist at one role he interviewed for and needs my help to write some essays they requested, create a leave-behind and write a technology strategic vision plan.
His next interview is in 2 weeks' time. I will have to make time to help him starting today and until it's done. Sigh.
Snow could put a kink in my Xmas plans
December 24th, 2017 at 03:39 pm
December 24th, 2017 at 03:45 pm 1514130315
December 24th, 2017 at 04:13 pm 1514132011
December 24th, 2017 at 04:32 pm 1514133168
December 24th, 2017 at 05:52 pm 1514137958
December 24th, 2017 at 06:57 pm 1514141876
CB, yes, I think he is lonely. He said he hadn't been interested in meeting women becus he didn't want to deal with any "baggage," but then, boom, he met this young woman, who spent a few weeks living at his house, and they "connected." For 2 weeks, he said, they'd sit and talk from dawn to dusk about all sorts of things. For her I'm sure it was just some sort of weird interlude but for him, it's true love. Sigh.
He knows I don't think it's the right choice, but beyond voicing my opinion, I want to be supportive. People don't always do things you agree with, but it's their life, and I felt bad that his daughters aren't talking to him. No doubt they're worried he's going to fritter away their inheritance on the girl.
December 24th, 2017 at 07:23 pm 1514143432
Hope you can have a safe and wonderful Christmas, even if it is hectic with your work for your client and plans.
December 24th, 2017 at 07:48 pm 1514144906
December 24th, 2017 at 10:39 pm 1514155145
December 25th, 2017 at 12:55 pm 1514206531