Mari

Hoping things are going better than your last update.

Please if you need to let us know what is up.

I'm here to listen.

Donna

again my thoughts have been with you....
Bobby

Hi Mari - How is everything going? How are you feeling?

Thinking of you.


Hugs, Nikko

They should be gone right?
Hope it wasn't too too bad.
and I hope you can recover quickly from their visit.
bizi

Hi,
After they left, the back pains I was having went away.

Then hubby and I both spent two days doing nothing but sleeping on and off.

After that I felt guilty and sad.


Mari

I amsorry that you are feeling this way....It was kind of you to have them come for a visit.you bought some clothes for her...am sure she appreciated that nice gester. YOu had some good meals together and hopefully no one got mad or confrontational..???
glad that your back pain is better. Stress can cause all kinds of physical symptoms....
try to decompress this weekend if you can.
you survived their visit....
bizi

We didn't have any fights or arguments. Everybody was nice.

Sunday at the Chinese restaurant was a relief. Two of my friends joined us for dinner. Mom and Dad engaged in conversation with them and hubby and I sort of sat to ourselves and relaxed.


The back aches were weird becuase normally I don't get back pain (thank G_d) and the aches were all over -- not related to one particular spot. The aches came on a few days before they arrived and left the day that they left.
The mind is amazing in what it can achieve.

Mari

why do you think you felt guilty and sad? I hope those feelings went away fast. I am so glad your ordeal is finished for the year and your back pains have gone away. Do you think your parents were on their best behavior or it was luck that they didn't trigger you much?
I am so glad you are finally able to rest.
Bobby

Every time I visit them I am devasted.

This time they visited me.

The fact that they had their own hotel room a few miles from our apt. worked. Dad borrowed my car for the weekend and they drove back and forth between the hotel and my apt.
Apparently, that worked for them. They need a lot of space and indepedence.

And yes, they did seem to be trying to be on their best behavior.

And I didn't have to deal with Dad being drunk. He drank in the restaurants, but most of his drinking was probably back in the hotel room and they got back there by 10:00 each night. Then he slept very late the next day and didn't come to my apt. until around 1:00 pm or later.

Plus, I had put a lot of planning into this so that things would run smoothly. I was successful.


No one said any word about my visiting them at their place in the future. They did hint a lot that they might start visiting me like this once a year.


I don't feel rested. I don't know what is going on.

Oh Mari, I am sorry you had so much stress when they were here, it's great that the back pain you had went away too. I hope it never comes back, it is so hard to relax or rest when your back hurts. I bet you had a rough time of it, but it sounds like the worst of your dad's behavior was at the hotel. I am glad that worked out so well for all of you. BUt you got through it, I knew you could and would get through it. It's over now and you have another year before having to think about them coming to visit again.

You did it though! You made it through the difficult time and now you can find some time to rest and recover from all the anxiety and stress you must have gone through during their visits.