MeXscape

My parents came for another visit - the second one in a year! It was a wonderful visit, but too short. They were only able to stay for a week. At least this time they recognized me at the airport. Last time, it had been so long that I had to wave my arms around like an idiot for them to realize it was me. But this time was different in a lot more ways than that.

Sometimes I get just a little more than I can handle. My frustration level is unbearably high, and I rail and curse uselessly. When we got our electric bill and then an idiot broke our window, I had one of those moments when I wondered why I moved. If those things happened to me back in the US, I would be able to deal with them in my native language in a culture where I understand all of the rules. Sometimes things seem just do daunting here. But whenever I am slipping in to good old-fashioned mean, Mazatlan finds a way to make it up to me.

We all know it. It is unmistakable. It sounds like nothing else. And it is never a good thing. Things made of glass are meant to keep their form. Sometimes it can be inconsequential, even a joke. The discordant tinkling of a dropped tray of glasses in a restaurant is almost always followed by catcalls of, "Job opening!" Sometimes it is damned infuriating. And sometimes it doesn't sound like breaking glass at all.

My heart stopped when Chuck came walking in the house with the electricity bill and uttered the innocuous-sounding words, "We went over the limit."

A dozen questions went through my head:, but I settled for, "How bad?"

"$7,000."

Holy crap.

I was invited to a baby shower earlier this week. Ugh. I don't have children by choice. My sister doesn't have children. I have never babysat. I just don't "do" kids. And baby showers are just a little too precious for my taste. I don't particularly relish the requisite games, and I feel like a fake smiling and oohing and ahhing over all the precious baby-ness of it all. But, out of friendship and respect for the woman who invited me, I agreed to go. Which also meant I had to buy a gift.