I was remembering a time when my mom wasn't sick. It was after high school, and mom and I weren't at each other's throat, or I should say, I finally wasn't in the dog house every 10 seconds. My dad would get up on Sundays and 'go get the Sunday paper.' Well, the drugstore he would go get the paper at was down the street from my aunt Nancy's. We were close to them, even though he 'hated' her husband, uncle Tony. Dad would stop in for coffee EVERY SUNDAY WITHOUT FAIL. 'Just 1 cup'. Yup, for 3 hours. My mom would curse and fume after the first hour. One Sunday I finally had enough and I looked at her and said, "You know mom, He does this every Sunday. Why don't you just get up and get dressed, slap on some lipstick and go with him to get the paper? You can join him for the coffee and enjoy the conversation just as much. You know they are just bs'ing."
She looked at me and laughed. For all the time he had been doing that, she had never thought of going with him. This had been going on for months at this point. Even if she had said, Hey, wait a minute Pete, I'll come with you. I don't think it would have changed a thing. He still would have stopped at Auntie Nancy's. They had been close since they were kids. But she never did get the balls to do that. I don't know why. And she would have been happier..I don't think she liked the idea of sharing my dad's attention, but she fought against that feeling. Made for one unhappy woman at times.