July 28, 2010
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I Didn’t Really Want to See You, Either
I had to get up at 4:00 A.M. this morning in order to wake up enough and get ready, and then get to work by 6:00 A.M. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a morning person (and what Piratess is? And where’s my rum? WHY IS THE RUM ALWAYS GONE! I wanted a daiquiri!). Ahem…
Anyway. It was a fairly busy day at work today. We had two large group home orders that needed to go out today in my home delivery department. I bagged probably 4 or 5 dozen bags, most of them packed full with institutional sized canned food. Bagged them, and loaded them into carts, some of which had to be taken to a cooler or freezer. My middle aged body does okay under these circumstances, but I do have my limits. After that I had about a dozen private home orders I had to ring and bag. I was done by noon and given the okay to go home, since I was toast by then, and had pretty much spent a full day working.
Oh, oh! Something interesting did happen today…my ex mother-in-law (first husband’s mother) came in to shop. I haven’t seen her in many, many years, but she still looks the same. I recognized her immediately, and before she saw me I darted into my office. I really didn’t want to speak to her. She was never very nice to me. After all, I married her “baby,” her only child. No one was good enough for him. Nevermind that I put up with his alcoholic ass for 6 years, I was not good enough for him. I didn’t keep house well enough. She’d get mad when we had to borrow money from her because we went over budget…over budget because her “baby” would rack up hundreds of dollars worth of alcohol on a bar tab we had to pay every month. So, she is not on my list of favorite people. The only problem with me wanting to hide from her was that I had work waiting for me out in the store. I didn’t have any help to do my work today, it was just me, and I had to get back to it. I took a deep breath and walked out of my office. There she was, not 15 feet away from me. She looked at me. She had a sort of stunned look on her face. I was probably the last person on earth she expected, or wanted, to see again. I looked her in the eye and smiled, and nodded in acknowledgment. I said, “Hi. How are you?” “Fine,” says she, “I didn’t recognize you with short hair.”
I just laughed and walked on. I laughed because that comment was ridiculous. I had short hair the whole time I was married to her son. I think she was trying to cover her reaction to seeing me by saying it was something other than sheer surprise. She probably peed herself a little when she saw me. I dunno. Maybe her mind is going and she knew she knew me and couldn’t place me? Nah, I haven’t changed all that much. She had to have known who I was.
Surely I was no worse a person than the woman her son is currently married to. She used to be a vested teacher at a local “high class neighborhood” school, until she was caught on camera stealing money out of other teacher’s purses.
My first ex husband used to be a cop. Used to be, until he was offered retirement instead of being fired for sexual harassment. Real winner, that ex mother-in-law’s “baby” is.
I don’t really care what she thinks of me, never really did. Hopefully, though, she will shop elsewhere from now on since she now knows where I work. It would be more comfortable for me to not have to think about that time in my life, and seeing her today obviously dredged up some old, buried resentment.
Have you ever run into someone in public who you didn’t want to see?
Comments (21)
That depends… does the bill collector who is stalking me count?
Interesting events. I wonder if, considering the high class “lady” your ex seems to have found, perhaps she doesn’t even regret your being gone now. Wouldn’t THAT be irony! Not that it matters, as you say -that’s best left in the past.
God bless
No.. I mean God bless YOU.
I just had a conviction that I need to stop cutting that phrase short. Weird. God bless YOU.
Once while on the medic I picked up a woman on abdominal pain and realized I used to work with her and we had a very brief, somewhat drunken, fling. Fortunately, she was too busy being ill to recognize me and my partner did all the patient care. Whew!
It always seems to me that just smiling and nodding is the best way to handle these situations ….. the less I say the better I fair. ………….. I tend to say what I am thinking and that is not always good to verbalize
YEAH! Try the Ursala look alike that tried to have a hit taken out on me bc she wanted my hubby but got an undercover cop….saw her about 6 years after she went away to the “hospital”.
@Made2sing4Jesus - WHOA! Now THAT’S a story! Have you posted about it? Glad she got an undercover cop. Wow, that would be a bit uncomfortable, huh?
@James3_1 - Ha ha! Thank you! I always like to finish that with “you,” too. Have had that conviction myself.
@Born261YearsTooLate - Oh my, that would have been awkward to say the least!
@Alive_in_Vegas - Yeah, I had envisioned having a conversation with her when I first spotted her and saying what was on my mind. It would not have been pretty, so I am glad I had the peace of mind to just smile and nod. LOL
@CynaraJane - we ran into her at the library check out…so there was no where to really run. I let Dan check out while I pretended to look for that last min movie.
I think I have brought it up but I can’t recall if I posted all the details.
Geez, My mom loves my wife. She says, anyone willing to put up with me is an angel in her book.
Nope. I mean not ones that matter anyway. I put enough distance where running into them would be nearly impossible. I hear ya though. You have class, Lisa! Believe that.
@Xcholo4u - YAY! Miguel!
Sorry, I am just glad to see you here! Yeah, I am thinking this town isn’t big enough for me and my past. I was reared to be a lady…taught manners and etiquette. I guess some of that learnin’ stuck, even though I break the rules sometimes.
I’ve run into people before I didn’t want to run into, but my grandparents taught me to be polite so I was polite, made the best of a bad situation and left as soon as I was able. Even so, I still think you have more class than I did. Be proud!
Yes at church too,how sad is that?
How awkward!
I can’t think off hand of when I’ve actually run into someone that I didn’t want to run into. I sometimes think about what would happen if I ran into certain people though.
@ShadesOfAnnie - Thank you!
@seedsower - That’s awkward, I had it happen there, too!
@TheCheshireGrins - I’ve often mulled over what I’d say to certain people should I ever by chance run into them. It has happened that sometimes I have said what I planned when encountering them, and sometimes I have taken a more subtle approach and not said what I thought I’d say. There are still a few people I hope to run into someday, LOL.
I can think of a couple of mothers who had several sons…and chose the worst son as their favorite.
Once, when still a private in the army, I got into a heated argument with another GI. We never patched it up while we were with that unit. I met him years later when we were both sergeants. I reported to a testing facility to take a proficiency test, which meant a good raise in pay if I passed.
He was the Sgt. in charge of the facility. Our meeting was friendly enough, and we reminisced about mutual friends in the old unit. LOL. I worried that he might do something to mess up the results of my test…and I worried until I received the results and raise in pay.
I live in a very small town (very small) with all my ex-in-laws… My daughter is a jr this year and I just didn’t want to move her away from her people after divrocing her father… HE moved away… so I guess there’s that…
My ex-mother-in-law is a patient at the clinic where I work. I see her paperwork but not her unless she’s in the waiting room when I walk through… If we make eye contact I usually just nod.
My ex-sister-law was working at the liquor store, which I didn’t know. I went in to get my favorite bottle of wine with my MonkeyBoy… and looked up and BOOM… there she was… I made a point to be very friendly, because she always hated me the worst. LOL.
Usually, if its someone from my past, I just nod, maybe say hello. If they ask how I am or something along those lines, I always say GREAT.
Now. one girl I work with.. cant stand her, she’s on drugs and just… annoying… I used MonkeyBoy as a shield once at Wal-Mart so she wouldn’t see me. LOL… and I’m known to duck down an aisle or turn and retreat the other way in a shopping center if I see someone I don’t want to see.
@dsullivan - It’s good that he didn’t sabotage you. Whether he realized he might have been caught and gotten in trouble, or realized he was in the wrong in the first place, at least it worked in your favor!
@BubblysLife - Ha ha! Yeah, I’ve dodged more than my ex mother-in-law before. And that’s how it is, too, like…BOOM…when you see someone you don’t expect to see, and maybe don’t care for!
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