Newly Martyred She Thinks

 

Ungrateful?  At 8:30AM I drive my older daughter all the way up to Target in Kingston.  She is rather burdened because for the first time in her life she must show up at work and do mindless tasks that someone else assigns to her, whether she likes it or not.  This involves a lot of standing around and occasionally going into the freezer which is unpleasant.  Newly martyred she thinks this excuses her from having to think about anyone else.

 

I asked her why it was she and her mom had argued the night before.  Her depiction sounded ridiculous.  She wasn’t inclined to go back upstairs and turn off a light because it was “only” a light.  Rather than yell that it was “only” an electricity bill that was more than she made in a day of stocking shelves, but I let that go.  But I did remind her that she needed to do dishes this week regardless of her work schedule, as Id mentioned the night before.  This didn’t go over well, and we spent the rest of the ride in silence. 

I listened to Amy Goodman and “Democracy Now.”  I used to enjoy listening to it on the ride home after dropping my little one off at school.  Amy was discussing the Line 3 protest in Minnesota, and it pricked up my interest.  An old friend who’d visited a few days back had said his daughter was there, involved in the protest.  I listened to a Native American woman describe being harassed by the police.

Then we turned off the highway and up into the Target mall.  I encouraged her to make peace with her mother when she saw her later in the day.  She rolled her eyes and walked off towards the entrance.  This made me think about telling her my chauffeur days were done.  And of reminding her that I’d been working hours before she rose in the morning and would be doing so long after she went to bed.  But I let it all go and drove back home the way I came.  And back in the driveway I remembered that I had to take the garbage up as I hadn’t done it the night before.

Wednesday, 08/04/21