the destruction of youth

one of my employees (the protege) is absolutely ridiculous. her mother just drove here to her JOB and took her CAR and went to the GAS STATION AND FILLED UP HER GAS TANK! what is that? she's TWENTY years old.

me="why did your mother come to the clinic, stephanie?"
s="because my gas light was red."
me= "okaaaaay..."
s= blank stare
me="why did SHE have to fill up your tank?"
s="because i would have been late!"
me="what? there is a gas station two blocks down the street!"
s="but i would have been late! and anyway, my mom drove my car while i was gone all week. she used all the gas."
me="you don't have time at lunch?"
s="yeah..."

i just shake my head at this sort of business. i can however see my mother doing this for my sister. i would absolutely kill my sister if i heard about it, but it would not surprise me one tiny little bit because my sister is at a very selfish stage. i am able to say "selfish stage" rather than she's a stupid whore bitch asshole because i talked with my brother.

my brother is one of those people who is able to calm most of my outlandish but totally justified emotions about my family. chuck tries to help out but sometimes he just doesn't understand and sometimes it makes it worse... like one time we were discussing my sister and he said, "well, you were a little mean." and i was all like, "you don't know!!!!" but my brother can say things like, "she's in a selfish stage." and i can hear that he means just that and isn't trying to say that i'm an awful human being. he knows. he was there.

or when my mother (the ultimate panic-er) is in one of her moods, i can talk to him and know it will be alright and know that she's just in one of her moods without maligning her name. because i love her no matter what but it's nice to say "she's in one of her moods" and know that he knows while at the same time know that he loves her just as much as i do. ya know?

everything around him is always a little safer and calmer and more right. which reminds me of a time that i was completely shocked by him. when he was in the navy he got a little out of hand. he was on a submarine (nuclear) and he was doing his thang (nuclear thang). so i went to visit him in NC. we had fun, i met his soon-to-be wife (who doesn't like me). every time we were all together she would completely hang all over him. it was the oddest thing. i wanted to say, "um, i'm his sister. i don't care who he's bangin." and the other thing was she was always like, "i think becky's cold. turn down the ac." or "becky doesn't want to do that." she didn't speak directly to me.

back to point at hand, it was the end of the trip and my brother took me to the airport. we were standing in line for the security and he gave me a hug before we had to separate. the asshole behind us took this op to cut ahead of us in line. my brother got all angry (understandably) and told him he was being an asshole. which is fine BUT i had to go through security with this guy and my brother was GOING THE OTHER WAY! ah, testosterone (i always pronounce the e at the end. testosteron-y, like pepperoni)

i'm so lucky to have the cool older brother. after the first part of the navy and getting married, he has settled back into that calming force of nature he's always been for my life. he has two cats, a small little house and is now close enough to us again that we get to see him more often. lovely.