Laurence said:
when are they actually boarding a plane and saying goodbye?
Ah, yeah, about that.
They've scheduled their move for the last two days of this month and have been sending clear signals that they want to be out of here as soon as the moving truck turns the corner. The closing on their new condo is also the last day of the month (their son is handling that with a POA) and occupancy is 1 March. It seems to be frustrating the heck out of them that they'll be homeowners on 1 Mar (and paying a mortgage) but that they won't be occupants until we return from the Mainland. Unfortunately this comes across as "We're stuck here with our granddaughter when we should be going to our new home." They're totally oblivious to that interpretation of their kvetching. I'm trying to decide if being oblivious means that we shouldn't be offended by their selfish concerns.
To make matters even more self-imposed crazy, the best redeye fare to the Mainland that week is the night that spouse & I return from the Mainland. So my MIL booked a flight out that's less than six hours after we return. I was admonished last week that I'd better make our connections and be home on time or they'd have to take a $50 taxi to the airport. ("Gee, Mom, and your teenage granddaughter might end up spending a night by herself, too!") Since the tix are non-refundable, changing to a more flexible date (like the next day) is not only more expensive to begin with but now also non-negotiable. I told her that gives her no choices if we have weather or aircraft problems and her best response has been "Ha ha, you better not!"
It gets weirder. We tried to set up a date for Grandpa's birthday dinner next week and we're sorting through various schedule conflicts. But then Grandma, in all apparent seriousness, proposed the birthday dinner for the "open" six-hour period between our return from the Mainland and their departure for it. I guess she thought we'd finish an eight-hour flight, get our car out of the airport garage, pick up them and their luggage (during weekday afternoon rush hour), take everyone to the restaurant, have a good ol' time, and drop them at the airport on our way home. The reality is that even if we landed early and the schedule clicked perfectly, both of them would be sitting in the restaurant tapping their feet and wondering if they should order takeout for the departure lounge. Not exactly the time to be singing "Happy Birthday." Spouse, who rarely puts her foot down with her parents, stomped the heck out of this proposal. We're going to make one more try with a couple other dates and then just drop the subject.
As a son-in-law, I wonder if they're still healthy. I'm sure there's something driving them to get back to the Mainland before somebody's health fails, but everybody insists that everything's fine.
So then I wonder if any of this is early-stage dementia or some other mental-health problem. Unfortunately I think this is "just" their reaction to self-imposed stress.
Then as a parent, I wonder who's gonna be taking care of our grandkid while we're on the Mainland. And who's gonna be watching the caretakers?
Then for myself and my spouse, I've decided that I have to treat her parents like the grownups they are, respect that they're mature enough to handle the consequences of their own decisions, and bite my lip.
I've also decided that this is a great opportunity for a 14-year-old to learn a lot of life lessons. She'll probably be mostly on her own that week, although presumably G&G will return to our house around sundown to get some sleep. Our kid is already perfectly capable of caring for herself and the house while she's on her own, and this is a pretty low-risk practice opportunity. She'll be extremely busy with boyfriends in the empty house underage driving of the unused car in our garage underage drinking of the beer in the fridge school, basketball practice, and homework. How bad could it be?
She'll also start to understand why we parents have been having all these grandparent conversations that stop when the kid enters the room. I guess it's better for her to learn it first-hand.
Once again, guys, thanks for listening. 20 more days.
