Sister Piss and Vinegar

No, I am not blogging about offensive, blasphemous, modern art. I'm blogging about the unkind, mouthy people that exist in some wards-a minority in my experience. The ward I met Sister Piss and Vinegar in was broken and saddled with literally 20-30 times the social problems that surrounding wards had. We got extra missionaries, but little other consideration of the special needs of our congregation from the institutional church. This was a time in my life where many things were not going well and I wound up living on the wrong side of the tracks so to speak. It's terrible when you are treated poorly just for the perception others may have of your poverty based on a mere address.

Sister Piss and Vinegar went out of her way to be unkind, most notably in terms of my calling, humble as it was, of scheduling the missionaries meals. Our bishop did not want the missionaries eating with the stalwart active families, he wanted them with the shut ins, the less fortunate, the part member families and others. Thus, I scheduled the meals with these folks, when a family couldn't afford the meal, I would cook or get other sisters to contribute and the missionaries would carry it over. Sister Piss and Vinegar just never did get over me taking away her weekly dinner from the missionaries and was quite vociferously nasty every opportunity she had.

The funny thing was, that after a while it no longer bothered me and I even began to feel a bit of tender mercy toward her constant ascerbic behavior. Towards the end of my tenure in that ward, her husband lost his employment and I could palpably feel her fear about that situation. And, surprisingly, I felt compassion for her. That was one of my turning points in dealing with offensive remarks by offensive people at church. I think it was a blessing of truly magnifying that calling to handle the missionary dinner calendar that has carried me a long way over the years.

However, lest you conclude I have deemed myself lifted above others, I shall forever refer to her as Sister Piss and Vinegar-unrepentantly.

More Truth is Stranger than Fiction from the Song Family

I'm back for a brief blog before hitting the road again. Thank God I bounce.

Grandchildren are a blast. I am now "Mumzy" which means that noncommittal on the grandparent name game DH is now by default "Popzy." Like it or not dear, here we come. Baby Bam Bam is so cute. And such a big boy.

While looking at Girl Song's photo albums, I realized that she went to winter formal with another girl. I now remember. Girl Song's date for winter formal just happens to be the tender subject of my "Will You Be Ready?" Post. I wasn't stressed out at the time, because never in my wildest dreams did I even contemplate one or the other could be gay. I have not told Questioning Song aka The Kid about this, although he may remember this on his own anyway.

Ok, so I've actually done this before, why on earth was I so weirded out by Two Guys and a Prom? It must be the potential for kissing and ooooh something more. Or just the Kid's flagrant, at times, obsession on occassion with things flaming.

Before leaving for distant shores DH and I had a conversation which he initiated wherein he explained to me that yes, it's true I'm really not much like other women and that fact is hammered home to him in all his work dealings. He likes this about me, but also finds it challenging in some ways. Then DH once again explains to me how he himself is rather lacking in so-called masculine traits such as "mechanical ability." I cannot begin to number the times he has proclaimed that he really has a female brain over the years. I hate this OGT stereotyping crap. Hold this thought and we will come back to this potential MOM squared (thank you Curies) line of reasoning DH was following.

Back at distant shores, Girl Song's friend picked me up from the airport. Girl Song later explained that said friend is a gay woman and having a terrible time meeting other gay women. Girl Song's friend is not LDS and really cannot stand gay bars. I worry for the Kid, because he hopes to meet someone during college to settle down with and have a whole passle of children with. I have read several Moho blogs where the authors bemoaned the difficulty of finding potential partners. This also led to a conversation about Number One Song, who is getting a little long in the tooth maritally speaking and what a great guy he is and why he can't get past first dates. From there we went to the topic of arranged marriages and ultimately concluded that gay or straight if parents had to make the choice the most risk free matter of handling the issue would be to find someone who already had a good track record, i.e. polygamy.

We also had a cute conversation with dear Son in Law (SIL) about why he married Girl Song, she was fun, interesting, unusual and he would have the opportunity to travel. SIL is by no means perfect (not LDS, smokes and drinks) but he is filled with common sense and genuine love for people and he treats Girl Song like the princess she is. Girl Song said he was the best man she ever met. And she knew a lot of LDS men of the card carrying type. I think THAT indicates a failure in how we LDS parents are raising our young LDS men.

My current staff is male, and I heard Elder asking Younger if he looked or acted gay, because elder had been asked for his phone number so many times by men. Younger assured him no, but I was quietly thinking about all the OGT's Elder does have even though I hate those stereotypes. Both Elder and Younger are straight. Yesterday, I asked Younger to take care of something at my home and The Kid had to send me a text telling me Younger was "Hot." Yes, so was Meatloaf in his own 80's rocker way.

When I shared with DH that The Kid was scamming on Younger, DH shared that Cervantes, deceased BIL's partner had invited DH to come alone to visit him in beautiful seaside community my head began to spin. Remember BIL thought DH was missing out on life having never been kissed by a man. DH assures me that he is still straight and will not be visiting Cervantes "alone." Apparently, DH is a little flattered by Cervantes offer. So no MOM squared marriage here after all, but . . . .

Weird enough yet? Oh, the brave new world, I am not ready for it.

Very Nice Things Indeed

After a rough week, my spouse person did something very nice for me this morning. A very simple act of kindness. I felt so loved.

Friends who I never thought would ever come to church, are now coming because their children want to go. They felt so loved in their adversities.

The wayward kid is getting happier and happier with the structure and diversion from the mists of . . . darkness is an appropriate metaphor. The kid is acting with love.

Tender Mercies each and every one.