My visit to Detroit was interesting and wound up having some drama. I reached out privately to Trina to confirm that I could stay with her while in Detroit. I had wanted to stay with her on Thanksgiving but she mentioned that Donovan's Mom was staying over and that I could share a bed with her. I wasn't sure if she was joking or not but I wasn't comfortable with that so I booked a hotel instead.
So Trina confirmed that I could stay there. I wound up traveling on Christmas Day. I was a few hours away when Tasha sent a group text (we have an ongoing sibling thread) asking me to stop by her old place and then we could go to the new home together where she had the presents for our gift exchange. I replied to the affirmative but didn't think to mention that I was planning to stay with Trina. This will come into play later.
So I get to Tasha's old place and when going to the door, she didn't answer. I called a few minutes later and confirmed that she and Abe were at CVS running errands and that they'd be back soon and to go next door to Abe's Mom.
Abe's Mom and I spent some time together. She is hard of hearing so it was a struggle chatting with her but that was cool. I helped her with learning how to use an ear dryer which she needs because she has a condition where her drainage passages are narrow and her ears tend to fill with water. There is a possible procedure to reverse but with her being almost 90 years old, the doctor's do not want to take the risk.
Tasha and Abe returned twenty minutes later and bought some pizza for dinner. Abe drove over to their new place and then later I drove Tasha to the new house. On the way there, Tasha mentioned that I could park my garage in their two car garage (with an individual door for each) and stay overnight.
When she mentioned staying overnight, I froze. I had already planned to stay at Trina's but for some reason I didn't say anything. Also Trina did not send any response when Tasha asked me to stop by the old place. It looked like Tasha indirectly was thinking Trina and Donovan would also come to the place. They implied as much to each other when Abe asked if they were coming and Tasha said she didn't think they would.
So Tasha and I toasted the evening on wine coolers and doritos and watched some classic comedies that happened to air their Christmas episodes including Sanford & Son, All In The Family (it was sad seeing Rob Reiner given he recently was shot to death by his own son), and the slightly more recent Hot in Cleveland. Abe wound up staying at their old house while Tasha and I slept in mattresses in the living room. She mentioned it was her first night at the new home. I messaged Trina to let her know that I would stay at Tasha's place since it was first time alone in the new house. Trina said it was cool but I wasn't sure if she was truly fine with it.
I wound up being a guinea pig for their second upstairs bathroom. The shower and sink were fine but the toilet leaked out of the tank when flushed.
Tasha had to work on Friday so she left me Abe's key and the garage opener so I can venture out. I relaxed a bit and then took a quick shower before heading to a local Wendy's for lunch. As I was wrapping up lunch, Dom called and was letting me know that he just got done seeing his Mom at the rehab place. He himself was going to stop at McDonald's to get lunch before heading back home. While on the phone, I received a message from Eugene. He also left a text message.
After I said goodbye to Dom, I checked Eugene's text and saw that he was hanging out at a Starbuck's 20 minutes from me. I left Wendy's and called him back when I got in the car. I drove over to the Starbuck's where he was to hang out. It's our first time seeing each other since last December when I visited him in Fall River, MA.
We talked about each other's family dramas. On my end, the last several holidays we all typically gathered at Trina's home since Papa was living there. It was almost a given that Trina's spot would be where to go. On the flipside on Thanksgiving Tasha would want Trina and I to stop by for dinner with her and Abe's family. His family is cool overall but his sister (his only one) is a piece of work. The times Trina and I went, she would remind us that our parents did not attend Tasha's wedding (which they had at their old place on Thanksgiving). That proved to be a sore spot that she always would bring up. It got to the point that we both were tired of hearing about it. It especially got annoying hearing it after Mama had passed. So for a few years neither Trina and I would attend which proved to be a sore point for Tasha.
So I wonder if this year that may played into things. I oddly felt like I was caught in the middle. In the end Eugene said that it would be up to me to fix things. I knew Trina had no intentions of going to the new house (she may have felt slighted by us not going there on Christmas) so when Tasha happened to call me, I suggested that the two of us should go over to Trina's. I then called Trina afterwards to let her know that we would head over in a few more hours.
Eugene then replayed his drama that mostly centers around his Dad. His Dad is a heavy drinker who apparently spends all his money on liquor and does not help in paying the rent at the apartment his parents reside. Basically there was an incident where he drove his parents to his sister's home for Christmas dinner. His sister visited Portugal and apparently picked up some kind of rum that their Dad took a liking to.
Eugene mentioned that his Mom and himself were in the car and were waiting for his Dad. It took another ten or fifteen minutes before he came and he emerged with the rum. Eugene surmised that he must've convinced his sister to part with it. But Eugene was having none of it. He basically had a standoff with his Dad saying that he refused to drive them with an open bottle of liquor. His concern was that if they get pulled over, he could get in trouble with law enforcement and did not want to take the risk. His Dad argued back against this but Eugene prevailed.
Needless to say he has a strained relationship with his Dad. He mentioned how his Dad was a heavy drinker all his life and lost his job due to being drunk on the job. He was verbally abusive to his Mom. A part of Eugene was mad that his Mom did not leave him many years back. But now they're in their late 70s and early 80's so pretty much it makes no sense to do so.
We then made parallel comparisons between his Dad spending all his disposable income on liquor while Dom spends most of his disposable income (and well some of my income these days) on his doll hobby. At least Dom's hobby isn't destructive health wise.
We spent the majority of our time also talking about getting older and health woes. Eugene recently was diagnosed with sleep apnea and due to years of it being untreated, it affected his blood vessels in his brain. He has to take a mild blood pressure medication. Of course it got me thinking about my health and how I'm resigning myself to possibly having to take them myself. He then mentioned a friend who has to take 300mg of some blood pressure meds. That's so crazy.
So we parted ways after a few hours and then I got to Tasha's home just before Tasha was dropped off by Abe. We then made our way to Trina's home where we had the gift exchange. I had Donovan's name and got his some Lions gear since he loves the Lions. He especially appreciated the cup holders since he always quick to throw a cup holder whenever we have drinks.
I bought pizza over and Tasha brought some Pepsi. Overall we had a good evening and then we headed back. I left on Saturday morning to head back home which I'm glad I did as temperatures plummeted on Sunday and it was rainy and windy.
I will definitely have to remember next year to make it clear where we would be meeting for the holidays and I'll have to use the group siblings chat to verify on where I am staying. I'm glad that things mostly were patched up.
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