Monday, August 23, 2010

Please Stop Fighting

I keep working to try to bring my home around to some sort of "normal." It's never been an overly calm place - with three women in the house there's a fair amount of raised voices - but I feel very strongly that I don't want any negativity here.

I'm guilty of negativity myself - Sarah's room is driving me crazy. It borders on someting you'd see on Hoarders and that scares the stuffing out of me. I will say, "get that garbage off the floor" and then I will leave the room. The garbage consists of random playing cards, lost earrings, wrappers, wrappers, wrappers, old cotton from doing her nails, little toys she hasn't played with in 6 years, and more wrappers. It takes me only a few moments to clear it away - it all goes into a bag and out to the dumpster - but she will be in there for hours and never get it done. I lose my patience and I blow.

One of the things that makes me blow harder and faster is when my older daughter is fighting with her boyfriend. Sometimes it's here in the house an sometimes it's over the phone. It goes on every single day. Sometimes they will spend a portion of the day getting along, but there is some sort of relationship stress shared with the entire family every day.

Today her boyfriend came over for the first time in 9 days. The last day he was here, he got upset with her and stayed on the patio for hours, until I finally said, just drive him home. He texted me and she talked to me and I could not seem to make these kids understand that our family had been through a trauma and we didn't need the fighting. The week that followed consisted of Bailey being ignored by him. She would text or call him and he wouldn't respond. I know how that feels - I had a boyfriend who lived in another state and he would ignore me for weeks at a time (why did I put up with that?). I tell her stop texting him, stop calling him. You can't make a person change their behavior - they have to come up with that on their own. They have to make that connection and say, hey, I better stop being so selfish.

I need to relax about Sarah's room. Sarah needs me to relax about her room. And I need those kids to stop wasting precious time fighting. Everything can fall apart and you can lose someone you love in an instant. Stop wasting time on ugly things. Be good to each other.

They won't listen. Even with Max dying, I feel like the kids just don't get it. You can't get that time back.

I feel so guilty about wasting time on a man at the beginning of the Summer. I had this big crush and I knew it was a bad idea, but I went for it anyway. And that guy doesn't want to be happy. He called me drunk in the middle of the night last night, sad and rambling. He can't let go of something hurtful. He's wasting every day on this hurtful thing. Why?

I wish I could go back to the beginning of this Summer and start all over, do the whole thing differently, but I can't. I wish I could relive every single moment with my boy, Max, but I can't.

This fighting stuff, it hurts so much. In my head I keep thinking, "I don't want this, I don't want this," but "this" is life and I don't want to wish any time with the girls away. "This" is my grief, as well, and there's no letting go of that. If I do, then it's like I've accepted that he's gone. Even though it's been weeks and he's sitting in a little box on my dresser, there's still a part of me that thinks I can somehow get him back, that a boy that wonderful, that sweet and beautiful can't be gone. The world can't keep revolving without him here. It's wrong.

I'm sorry. I probably should keep these thoughts in my head, but sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode. It hurts so much.

6 comments:

Cherie Burbach said...

This is the most beautiful thing I have heard:

"stop wasting precious time fighting. Everything can fall apart and you can lose someone you love in an instant. Stop wasting time on ugly things. Be good to each other."

My gosh, this is so true. You're right, people get caught up in the small ugly things rather than the beautiful big picture.

Askew To You said...

Thank you Cherie. It's hard to remember to stay in the moment and appreciate what we've got. The kids are young and hopefully they will get it soon. They did it again today, but then they pulled it together and calmed down. They've got a lot on their plates.

Homemom3 said...

I'm right with Cherie, this was a beautiful post, hopefully your girls read your blog. It is so important to love one another and not fight. Ugh my girls and oldest are into arguing with each other right now, but it is normally before school and then the first 30 minutes they get home from school.

Homemom3 said...

I'm right with Cherie, this was a beautiful post, hopefully your girls read your blog. It is so important to love one another and not fight. Ugh my girls and oldest are into arguing with each other right now, but it is normally before school and then the first 30 minutes they get home from school.

Anonymous said...

Dear Michelle! By mistake, I pressed "Next Blog" (something I never do) - and I landed here. For some reason I started reading. In the end I couldn't leave, pretending that I didn't know that you just lost your child.

I feel for you, and think about you, and your children - also Max. Just to know.
Best wishes and kindest regards
Lilli (in Norway)

Askew To You said...

Thank you for visiting my blog, Lilli. Your words mean a lot to me. I've had a hard time writing about losing Max.

I look forward to checking out your blog, as well.