kijip
12-29-2007, 02:26 AM
Now, first off I will say that I have always been one to invite people over, including people who I barely know who have no family in the area for the holidays. At Thanksgiving, my Dad called the night before and knowing that I would say yes, asked if he could bring some guy (lets call him X) who lives in his building who apparently had no where else to go. The first time I saw my mother on Thanksgiving she was marching up the stairs of my townhouse with a strained look on her face. She raised her eyebrows and implored me to keep X away from her as he had informed her in the car on the way over that he could cure her cancer on the spot. He then pondered on it for a minute and told her that she did not have cancer after all, that it was a leg issue and a liver issue and he could fix it in a "jiffy". My mother is currently undergoing chemotherapy for stage 4 lung cancer, unfortunately she does in fact have cancer and we have the scans to prove it. Over the course of the evening, X managed to rankle every other person in attendance except my dad, including a number of my closest friends. His oddness ranged from asking in a worried tone if it was safe to microwave the mashed potatoes to tsk tsk-ing my mother's choice of eggs to scowling when he realized my brother is gay (it was priceless actually- he asked my brother where his wife was, LOL) to creeping me out by asking me to report to him privately any of my dad's illnesses because since he knew my father better than anyone else (umm, interesting...I think my mother was married to him for 30 years and I have been his daughter all my life and you know him what, 2 months?) and promised that he could heal him in a "jiffy". Loon.
My brother hosted Xmas and when my dad asked to bring him to Xmas, my brother told him that he barely had room for those he had intended to invite and that no one that could not tolerate him and his partner being parents was really welcome anyways. Now New Year's day is upcoming, the annual seafood fest with all welcome, and my dad is pressing me hard to let him come. On the one hand, X is a somewhat entertaining addition and he is really just a lonely old man with no where else to go. If my dad lived away from us, he might well be that lonely old man with no where else to go whose friend's families thought was nuts. On the other hand I don't want my other guests, the people I actually choose to involve in my life on a day-to-day basis, to be driven mad. It it was just fear of microwaves and a little sense of grand healing powers, I might be able to tolerate X better. But to tell my mother flat out that her cancer is really a leg problem, act oddly about my brother and ask me to report to him on my own father's health, crosses from weird to unacceptable. However, if I don't include him it is possible my father will make a stink since as he has told me, I seem to be willing to invite everyone else (including friends of friends I have never met before). Given the open door policy, I can't really claim to lack space---he knows just how many folding tables and chairs I have in my garage.
My brother hosted Xmas and when my dad asked to bring him to Xmas, my brother told him that he barely had room for those he had intended to invite and that no one that could not tolerate him and his partner being parents was really welcome anyways. Now New Year's day is upcoming, the annual seafood fest with all welcome, and my dad is pressing me hard to let him come. On the one hand, X is a somewhat entertaining addition and he is really just a lonely old man with no where else to go. If my dad lived away from us, he might well be that lonely old man with no where else to go whose friend's families thought was nuts. On the other hand I don't want my other guests, the people I actually choose to involve in my life on a day-to-day basis, to be driven mad. It it was just fear of microwaves and a little sense of grand healing powers, I might be able to tolerate X better. But to tell my mother flat out that her cancer is really a leg problem, act oddly about my brother and ask me to report to him on my own father's health, crosses from weird to unacceptable. However, if I don't include him it is possible my father will make a stink since as he has told me, I seem to be willing to invite everyone else (including friends of friends I have never met before). Given the open door policy, I can't really claim to lack space---he knows just how many folding tables and chairs I have in my garage.