Saturday, October 17, 2009

Is it me or you?

I'm back after playing host to visitors since last Wednesday.  My wife's brother & his wife stayed with us for a few days on their way back to the NW.  We had a really good time.  They are different; more widely traveled, more educated than the rest of the family.  He was a career naval officer; she is a published poet.  Nice people.  We didn't do much on Wednesday afternoon; spent most of Thursday visiting Death Valley; and checked out Pahrump on Friday.  Our daughter came over from Vegas Friday to see them and spent the night.

This morning, our daughter left by 06:00; I was just up and she tried to get out without even seeing her mom.  Didn't make it but she was anxious to leave.  The BIL & SIL were up soon after and packed and ran out of here certainly before 07:30.  So, my question is this:  does everyone haul ass out of here because they want to or because they sense we want them gone?   Hmmmm.

This brings up a raft of motivations on both sides; I doubt we'll ever resolve all this and really I doubt if I would have the guts to bring it up.  Some of our feelings are:
- we feel guilt about wanting them gone
- we feel selfish about wanting to be alone.
Their feelings may include:
- they have a long journey and may wish to get started
- they may want to be alone themselves
- they may sense our desire for them to leave.

How do you feel when people leave?  Relieved or sad; or both? 

"It was a delightful visit - perfect, in being much too short."  Jane Austen (in Emma)

1 comment:

Croft said...

Seeing them leave is just as great as seeing them arrive!