Notwithstanding the fact that I have been trying really hard to drop a few pounds, I have eaten like a rescued refugee these past few days. Everything we ate for dinner tonight was already blessed once.


I spent all day dragging up Christmas decorations and putting up my Snow Village ceramic houses. I was going to brave Black Friday like Julie did, but when I woke up it just didn’t seem like a good idea. I shopped from my computer instead! Much, much easier.


It has been great having my folks here. My dad is 84 and my mom is almost at the same milestone. I wonder how many more Thanksgivings we will share. That awareness makes me treasure what I have even more.


Not unexpectedly, my folks have (silently) questioned a few of the dynamics with Dora. I can just tell what they are thinking from past years of experience. We are in the stage of adjustment where we must hold Dora ultra accountable while at the same time she is well-defended and there aren’t tons of warm fuzzies going either way. The goal, of course, is to move past the testing/limit setting phase and into a more “normal” relationship. My folks don’t see the “what comes before” stuff—only what they see in the here and now.


When Dora went to bed tonight, she left my arms and the rocking chair and said good-night first to my husband. I called her on her superficial, fakey hug. She gave her dad a better hug. She then moved on to my mom and did the same thing. I called her on it again. My mom chimed in and said it wasn’t necessary to hug her; she only wanted a hug if it was real and Dora wanted to give it. Dora leaned forward and hugged her, but my mom still had to coach her through it … “Squeeze me tighter, like you mean it!”


After Dora went to bed, my mom commented that it reminded her of someone else’s hugs … I guess maybe my folks are seeing both sides of the equation.


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