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Date Posted: Fri, April 21 2023, 20:21:21
Author: Betsy BFS
Subject: QOTD for Saturday, 4/22/23

It's Saturday! That's the day I try to take the whole day doing just what I want to do. Reading, sewing, spinning, walking, gardening ..... that sort of self-indulgent stuff. Notice the word Try. It never works. I start out with good intentions but get derailed after, oh, five minutes. Apparently, my husband also has an agenda for me. So do each of my children. As the good nurse that I am, my response is always drop my life and see what I can contribute to the patient's needs. I forget, all the time, that this is my Family, not my patients. I've never reached the point where I don't switch into Nurse Mode, making myself available to all in need. My family knows this and are stealth divers, jumping in with "Can I talk to you, Mama/Betsy?" and they know how much time it is before I go from Nurse to Mama.

When I say, "I've been thinking..." it clears the room. When they say "Are you doing anything?" I'm well into a two hour "Yes, I'll listen to you for as long as you need," place before I realize Once Again, my day has turned into everybody else's day. It's a trick. They ALL know how to catch me off guard, and hit that Nurse button.

But I tricked THEM.....heehee....I went to therapy. That threw a wrench in the works.

David handles the phone calls differently. They have ten minutes, and at the ten minute mark, he says "It's been ten minutes," and he hangs up. Mid-sentence sometimes. If they call to talk about something they're angry about, he says, "It's been ten minutes. Shut the F8ck up." Yup.... that's a true statement. Don't gasp in horror. It's a family joke at this point. If one of them gets him talking longer than the allotted ten minutes, it's like scoring a goal on the ice during a Bruins hockey game. They all keep score of who got him over his limit for the longest time.

He gets to watch the Bruins/Patriots/RedSox/soccer/golf/roller derby/box-car derby......

I get a head ache.

It's Saturday. I'm turning my phone off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following quote is from 'Outlander,' by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 26, "The Laird's Return." Copyright © 1991, by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.


"Can ye tell your uncle how old ye are, sweetheart?" she asked him, throttling her voice down to a coo-- under which the sound of clashing steel was all too apparent. The boy heard it; he turned and buried his face into his mother's neck. She patted his back mechanically, still glaring at her brother.
"Since he won't tell ye, I will. He's two, come last August. And if you're bright enough to count--which I take leave to doubt--you'll see he was conceived six months past the time I last saw yon Randall, which was in our own dooryard, beating the living daylight out of my brother with a saber."

"That' so, is it?" Jamie glowered at his sister. "I've heard a bit differently. It's common knowledge you've taken the man to your bed, not just the once, but as your lover. That child's his." He nodded contemptuously at his namesake, who had turned to peer under his mother's chin at this big, loud stranger. "I believe ye when ye say the new bastard you're carrying is not; Randall was in France 'til this March. So you're not only a whore, but an unchoosy one too. Who fathered tis last devil's-spawn on ye?"

The tall young man beside me coughed apologetically, breaking the tention in the room.

"I did," he said mildly. "That one, too." Advancing stiffly on his wooden leg, he took the little boy from his fuming wife and set him in the crook of his arm. "Favors me a bit, some say."

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Replies:

[> I'm a bit surprised that Ian didn't call Jamie out for impuning the reputation of his wife. I suppose he figured letting Jenny deal with it was better than inviting Jamie to draw blood himself. -- kgp, Sat, April 22 2023, 18:40:33


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[> [> All through the books Ian is the calming balm to the Frasers. He is smart enough to have mastered “put the brain in gear before the mouth motor starts.” I need to work on that. I absolutely love the family stories you share. For a difficult time in my life, STFU, became my own silent mantra. Go Dave! Lol -- Kathy in PA, Sun, April 23 2023, 3:20:40


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[> [> I sometimes wondered about this too, kgp. Ian is so much more level headed than the Frasers, even when Young Ian drives him to distraction. His retaliation in making Jamie dicipline YI was brilliant. -- DianaH, Mon, April 24 2023, 13:36:37


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