Battered

You guys, I had the most miserable bruising phone conversation this afternoon. It was purely awful. It started off with someone yelling at me, someone I would have characterized as a friendly acquaintance. I probably deserved about 30% of the yelling. But only 30%.

And then it got weird. Weird Mommy Wars stuff. Weird and inappropriate advice that went on for a long time. Weird attempts to fix me, because she is concerned that I am failing to meet my children's basic needs. (My children heard a redacted version of this story later, and they were like "...What? We're all okay on the basic needs front, Mom.") Because of that 30%, I didn't feel able to say, "You know what? I am done with this conversation now. Goodbye." But wow, did I want to hang up that phone.

I try to be a person who sees both sides of a story. I try to be a peacemaker. So it is strange for me to say that I do not see a way back to anything other than the most distant cordiality after this conversation. You guys, it was bad. If you're a pray-er, I'd appreciate your prayers tonight.