Well, another Christmas has come and gone. It is actually still the Christmas season, since yesterday was only the start of the 12 days of Christmas. In standard form, we put up our tree just a few days before Christmas, and Sue decorated it Christmas Eve (during the day). Sue’s Mom was here to visit, and left on the 26th. Having her here created the only stress of the holiday.

Connie has always been a highly opinionated person, never afraid to speak what is on her mind. This visit was no exception. While most of the visit was nice, she had some blood sugar issues, mixed with some bull-headed behavior. When her blood sugar dropped quite a bit (the first time), she and Sue got into the first real argument in years. It was not until later that Sue realized that she was talking to a sugar-deprived person, who is very much like a drunk in action. Irrational in thought, with slurred speech to boot. A discussion with my sister later in the day gave Sue better ammunition for fighting the physical side of low blood sugar for the rest of the trip.

In any case, I was very proud of my wife for standing up to her mother. The fact that Sue is approaching 50 means that she doesn’t have to put up with anyone telling her that she is a bad mother or that she has made bad choices. The fact that we’ve been together for 20+ years and that we have two wonderful children (who, granted, have their own problems), is proof enough that she has led a wonderfully fulfilling life, at least thus far. Having her own mother see her as a failure is not something that I will ever put up with. I’ll simply separate her from that irritant to the degree possible. Sue is more wonderful than her mother will ever know – which, ironically, means that kudos need to go to her mother for allowing the base of her child to be so strong.