Dazed and Confused...

[rusty_armour]

Are mothers imbued with some kind of mystical power when they give birth? I mean, I'll expect a certain reaction from my own mom and she'll totally surprise me. I'm ashamed and embarrassed, but I basically out and out lied to my parents about my financial situation. When I visited my parents on Saturday, my dad kindly offered to loan me money to pay off the balance on one of my credit cards. As I knew he'd freak out when I told him the full amount, I named a lower balance. He still freaked out, saying, "Good God! You're as bad as your mother!" Anywaaaay, he still agreed to pay this balance and told me that when I got home I should call him to give him the exact balance. As I was hoping he would never have to see the actual statement (Yes, I really am this stupid), I basically read off the balance, but changed a rather crucial number. We then agreed that I would make my monthly minimum payment and he would pay off the rest (e.g. the figure I'd given him) on Tuesday (as today is a holiday). By the time I got off the phone, I was having a mini panic attack and hoped he would never ever find out that I'd lied to him.

Yesterday, I got a call from my mom who asked me how I was feeling (as I woke up with a cold on Valentine's Day) and whether I needed anything, etc. Then she informed me that my dad would need my credit card statement after all as he could then go to the bank and make the payment. She asked me to scan the credit card statement and send it to her before Tuesday. Instead of 'fessing up there and then, I just agreed, finished off the conversation, and then flew into a panic. Well, as much of a panic as a drugged up person with congestion, fever, and a runny nose can get into. I think I washed some dishes and cried a little. Then I proceeded to just push it out of my mind because I couldn't deal with it and my coping strategy (which isn't a coping strategy at all) is to ignore a problem and hope it will go away. So I basically tried not to think about it for the rest of the day, arguing that I could give my parents one day when they weren't angry at me or possibly losing sleep because they didn't use contraception when they had the chance. Ironically, the following day would be Family Day, which seemed fitting somehow.

Of course, you can only ignore a problem for so long before you actually have to deal with it, so I scanned the credit card statement this morning and emailed it to my mom. Then I phoned her to let her know that I'd sent the statement and to make my big pathetic confession. I was expecting her to be angry or at least sound a little disappointed, but she didn't sound upset at all. When I told her that she was taking the news a lot better than I thought she would, she said that she'd been there and she understood. And I think she meant it. I mean, I don't think it was a delayed reaction or anything. She is good at math, so maybe she'd already worked out that I'd lied about the full amount based on the minimum payment my dad subtracted from the figure I'd quoted. Or maybe she took pity on me because I'm sick. Well, I'm sure she was a lot more vocal about it once she got off the phone. I just hope my dad didn't go too ballistic because then my mom will have to deal with it. I did tell her that Danna could call me if he wanted to rant, though I admitted that it might not register as well since I'm drugged up on cold medication. If he's smart, he'll wait until I'm better and then tell me off.

Well, that was cathartic for me and probably as boring as hell for you. However, my vast stupidity might make some people feel better about themselves. Man, I thought I was bad, but rusty_armour is an idiot. *g*