Saturday, January 2, 2010

Resolve

The gloom shines into my room as I wake up to January 1, 2010. My friend is still asleep and I feel tired and annoyed, and I don't even know why. I thought that my waking up to a new year would be bright and full of exciting little events, boy was I wrong. We wake up and eat some eggs, watch some Seinfeld as we munch on Frosted Flakes reminiscing about our successful new years eve. Rewinding a few days back my faithful Charlie broke down-hundreds to fix and no money to fix it with. My mother decides she wants to offer help. Help...what a great word, giving someone something that they can't attain on their own-a good deed, a priceless offer. Not here. In order to receive this lifesaving "helpful" offer I must first do the one thing I swore I would never do. Every time I try to speak about it, I'm starting a fight and being demanding. I try to breathe and think about what the mature approach is without boiling over. I try and fail. She just won't listen to what I have to say. Maybe because she can't allow herself to think that I would do something like this-the daughter who was her puppet for so long, the daughter who had her back, the one who would obey her every word, the one she depended on for favors. It's hard to let someone know that you're not the person they want you to be. You can't be that person, it's too difficult and it's like watching someone else live your life. It's not you, you itch to be your true self. Only to realize that change comes with a price. You can either be accepted by your loved ones, or harshly rejected. Sadly the price I'm paying is a harsh slap in the face, after spilling out my true feelings of being unappreciated, a burden and altogether just a body in a house. I get the confirmation I feared. She doesn't deny it all she says is "So it's my fault". Blood boiling and tears flowing I try again, same response. I'm thinking to myself "come on, just see it from my perspective". Unfortunately for someone who's been through too much in their life they decide to rule out your feelings and make them their own. Accepting defeat she decides to grab my car which has now been fixed (but I can't have it) and unsafely drive it to Saratoga.
I'm prepared for the new family to judge and to hear her side of the story and her only way of getting sympathy is to put the world on her shoulders when in reality, the world is too busy jumping on others backs, so she just paints the picture that it's there.
I'm not a bad daughter-I don't disobey deliberately and when I do it's always something small. There's so many rules to follow it's hard to obey every single one. Especially when it involves a personal decision that only YOU will make. Yes, everything is a personal choice, but the majority of the time it affects other people. The choice I made affects only me. But sadly, she'll never be able to accept the fact that this is beyond her control. I tried my hardest to make her see the light, but you can't push free will. So here i am letting go, maybe just maybe she'll want to understand.

Writing this pessimistic blog makes me think about the spot removing spray "Resolve" no matter how much you spray onto a huge messy stain, there will always be a little spot left, it'll go away on it's own or maybe you need to spray it a little more and you'll resolve your huge messy stain saga :)

Lesson learned:
The only way you can resolve a problem like this is to try your best and if your best isn't good enough, maybe that person doesn't want to accept your best. So let it go-they are who they are, they are never going to change so don't hope for the one day they will because it is never going to come. Accept defeat every now and then maybe it'll be worth it, maybe it won't. But life will go on!

2 comments:

  1. Girl I love you.
    I agree.
    (:
    Can't wait til you are here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Meredith,

    This is your Dad. I understand what you are saying in your blog.
    Please understand my feelings:

    Your beauty needs no help. You are stunning. Your tatoo is like crayon on a masterpiece work of art. Your piercing is like a pushpin thumbtack on a Rembrandt.

    Part of being an adult is understanding how someone may be feeling at any given moment. All of my children's actions and decisions affect me. You affect me...When you do well in school and make good academic decisions I am happy and very proud. You affect me...When you help your siblings, other family members, strangers, are a good friend and even show the smallest kindness to anyone. I am so pleased that it's hard to contain myself and I want to shout to the world how beautiful you are inside. You affect me...When you are honest, tell the truth, refuse to take advantage of someone and when you are gracious and loving to your extended family. I know you are following the example of your grandparents and that you even listened during sunday school to the stories of Christ. You have "affected" me very well, many times.

    So...listen very carefully...your decisions affect me. They can please me or disappoint me. They can fill me with joy or sadness. Everything you do is a choice and each one affects me. Because...I LOVE YOU!

    I love you and because of that I can feel pain and sadness. Your decisions to get a piercing and tatoo make me sad. I feel deep sadness that my daughter is "inked up" and "poked". My desire has been that your body remains pristine and unmarked. Mom feels the same way I'm sure and during your talks with her about it both of you got angry at each other. I didn't participate in those discussions so I didn't have a chance to get angry at either one of you. Now my anger is focused on me. When I couldn't keep our family together I diminished my influence on each of you. When I couldn't move out to CA I reduced my influence on you. When I've not seen you monthly or twice monthly this past year I couldn't help you feel secure and stable. When my presence has been felt by all of you kids your lives went smoother. Through my children's decisions, good and bad, wise or foolish, I evaluate my fatherhood. That is another way your actions affect me. Reading your account of your recent decision and subsequent fights with your mom have shown me that I did not do so well.

    You now have choices to make about these issues. What you do will bring beauty or ugliness in your life...

    1. You can feel "put upon", controlled or even like a victim. This will lead you to make further unwise and possibly destructive decisions. Pouting and telling everyone how victimized you are may get you sympathy or pity, but it also cuts a pretty pathetic figure. There is nothing here to make yourself proud of you.

    2. You can repair your relationship with your mother by apologizing for anything hurtful or mean that you said in your talks with her and I expect the same from her.

    3. Take out the piercing and see about getting the tatoo removed. These actions will generate pride in yourself by restoring your body's original beauty, will please me and yourself.

    Making these things right will correct your perception that you're an adult not because of a birthday, but by how you behave. I have always told you kids that it matters to me WHO you become. I care less about your academics than I do about your character. There are a lot of buttheads with multiple degrees in this world, but only an exceptional few people who are filled with integrity, character and dignity. I want each of you to be in the second catagory. I expect it because you have examples of it in your family, in your faith and you have demonstrated it many times.

    You must think these things through very carefully. Good decisions always make sense and never require explanations.

    Be your best, do your best, live your best.

    I love you,
    Dad

    ReplyDelete