Mommy,
Remember your Ahava that I took? Apparently hand lotion can go bad if you keep it for too many years. I needed some you yesterday so I put some on but it doesn't smell right anymore. Now I don't know if I should buy a new one, which will smell different because they changed it a little bit, or keep yours because it's yours even though it's gone bad. Will have to think about this some more.
Craig came Friday after work and Aunt Elaine welcomed him in like she has people knocking on the door every day. He acted like everything was totally normal and he was happy to see her doing so well, and she totally played it up. What. Ever.
Then he asked if he could see our room and as we were walking down the hall Aunt Elaine said something about how she told us to clean up but we barely did anything. Danielle turned around and gave this Glare of Death - we fucking busted our asses trying to clean up and throw out anything we don't need. We stayed up late cleaning every single thing and organizing.
It was very cramped with Aunt Elaine standing in the doorway (I think she didn't want to leave us alone with Craig) and him and us in our room. Craig said we need clear paths from our beds to the windows and the bedroom door, and asked Alex for paper. He drew all our furniture in a different way and it blew my mind. We took everything out into the hallway that was little and Craig helped us push the mattresses all to one corner. Now all the furniture is in the diagonal other corner and the little stuff lines the other walls. SO MUCH FLOOR SPACE NOW! I can't believe I couldn't see to move everything that way myself.
Alex loves it - she calls it our bed corner and it's really cozy. We lined up all our guys along both walls and now we won't be stepping on fallen stuffed animals each morning since they won't fall out of bed anymore. Craig also took everything down from the closet and put up our Brooklyn stuff on top of the closet shelf so it's out of the way. We're going to get boxes for the closet floor and put them on their side along the bottom to put all the crap in so we can get to it. Dani told Craig if he ever gets tired of shrinking he could become an interior designer, and she's completely right.
He left us to clean up and went to talk to Aunt Elaine privately but you know we totally listened. The good thing with Craig is he doesn't say that Alex and Dani aren't his problem - he takes us as a group. Not every time I go to be shrunk, but with the house problems. Aunt Elaine said she wasn't really wanted when Craig asked if she was able to make it to the dance recital. He gave her a hard time about that, saying if she's asked, she's wanted, and it's Dani's way of reaching out and all that. Craig also said that even though I'm the one with the biggest mouth and have gotten in the most trouble, Danielle's the one he's most worried about. I demand attention by getting in trouble, and Alex is the baby so she gets attention and Dani is just over-looked. He said she's the one most likely to go wherever she gets attention even if it's bad attention. :( Poor Danielle is destined to be a crack whore.
I don't know if I agree with that. Craig told Aunt Elaine that we very much feel unsupported by her and that we can see she does the absolute bare minimum for us. She said she never planned to have kids because she doesn't like them and Craig interrupted and was like, "Yeah, they've received that message loud and clear." YESSSS!!! He told her we're all smart (I'm so happy for Alex she heard that, it made her so, so happy) and are capable of having normal conversations about adult things. Craig also told Aunt Elaine that he'd be happy to look into getting her some help with the house, for things like shopping and cleaning and that if those aren't on us to do we'll be less resentful of her.
Aunt Elaine sounded kind of offended and insisted we're fine and don't need help. Craig kind of refused to listen to her and was like, "I'll just find out what services are available to you, and then we can take the next step later." I wonder if we can out-vote her. She asked if he can get us to be less difficult and said we're very secretive (what, she's worried we're planning a coup?) and Craig said it was his understanding that she encourages us to do our own thing and not spend time with her. He was like "It's on you, as the adult to invite them into your world and to encourage them to invite you into theirs. It's up to you to ask why they insist on a certain brand of milk and why they like specific foods. If you ask, they'll talk to you. They just don't feel like you want to know anything. You've spend years creating an environment and they're just responding to it."
Umm... I don't really want to be in Aunt Elaine's world of tv watching all day. And we just want the healthy milk from the cows that don't get hormones like you taught me. So that's it. It went better than I thought really - I thought Aunt Elaine would scream at Craig if she even let him in. Alex was sad he wouldn't stay for dinner. I'm really happy about how our room looks. All our beds are smushed together in a corner now and it really is very cozy. Oh and when Craig left, he said he'll come back to visit another time and Aunt Elaine didn't say no. So maybe the seal is broken.
I think I'm going to keep your Ahava for a while, but I might not use it anymore.
Love,
Sam
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