Yipee! Dad's out of town! / Meet Joey

Don't you hate it when someone brags about you, but never complements you unless it's for show?
Don't you hate it when your mother has to fight for the camera if she decides she wants to take a non-posed picture of her kids?
Don't you hate it when someone can say the most hurtful things, but is sure to say it in a way he can deny the meaning, when you KNOW exactly what he meant?
Don't you hate it when someone can live with you everyday and never see what they have right in front of them?
Don't you hate only being daddy's girl around his cow-workers?

Don't you hate not being able to divorce your father?

Well, my dad's out of town (yipee!) and it really makes us realize how much of the "real us" we hide every day in fear of his criticism, lies and arguments. But we'll enjoy it while it lasts...


On another note, my big brother now has a name =) He was, (I may not have all this info correct...it's a sensitive subject) miscarried in the second trimester, about half ways through the pregnancy, where he had to be delivered. They wouldn't let my mom see him (he died of loss of blood due to a defect in my mom's uterus, and because of lack of blood/nutrition he was deformed and "not a pretty site", plus they knocked her out because it was so traumatic and my father wouldn't even hold her hand) or even tell her the gender (supposedly he was not "well preserved" enough to tell, though she feels it was a boy), and my father thought it would be "helpful" in her (ahem, HIS) mission to pretend none of it ever happened, to tear up all the U/S pictures. My mom did it with no support, and the staff was incredibly stupid and hard-hearted (saying stuff like, "just suck that dead thing out already! She's taking up room...it's DEAD for gosh sake!"), and I have no idea how she does it. It always seemed very hard for my mom to talk about, but I've told her different times not to let my dad's stupidity and lack of heart keep her from loving her baby, and things like that, and it seems it helped. Today she came to me and said...well, just read the poem I wrote =)