Here we go again...

Dear Amanda,

So, I settle in by the pool, laundry done, sun shining. Yay, I think, life is good. Today I am by my pool on a gorgeous day, tomorrow I head to beautiful Newport. L and J, S and C are there with J's mom and sister (S's second favorite aunt) enjoying themselves and I'm headed there tomorrow. M and V have finally relented, so L and J are all set. I just have avoid them one more day. I got through last night by eating, tonight I'll try to do it without snacking.

I open my book to read the last ten pages that I couldn't manage last night before falling asleep and hear the message tone on my cell phone. Hmmm. I didn't hear it ring. It's L. "Get this," she says, and then I hear V's voice. It's a message he left for J saying that they (M and V et. al.) are finalizing their vacation plans and it looks like they'll be heading back from Block Island through Newport at dinner time (the day was unclear) and could they get together for dinner. He adds that A would really like to see S.

*#**&*^@!^@%!$!!#@#&!!!!!

Unrelenting after all. Oh, and nice to make it about the kids.

I call L back immediately, of course, and told her they should just ignore the call. Don't call back. Because--as we all know--it's not really about dinner. Dinner will become something bigger. They will ask to stay the night and/or leave the kids for the rest of vacation. We hang up so as not to get too worked up, but as soon as I hop in the pool with my book, I find myself reading the same sentence over and over because I already am worked up. I'm pissed and distracted. I get out of the pool and call L back. I leave her and/or J a message. I tell them my recommendation would still be to ignore the call, but maybe J should stop being nice and call back and say "We've tried to be nice and polite about this, but...if you want to meet for dinner, that's fine. But please don't put us on the spot or in a situation where you ask to stay overnight or leave the kids with behind with us. We've invited who we've invited." Clearly, subtle just doesn't work.

Ugh. I feel so bad for L. There she is on vacation, still being terrorized as I've come to consider it, afraid of an ambush. I feel like calling M myself. Lay off L! She told you no, they weren't running a B&B this year. Then she even said she doesn't need for you to come dump your family tension on hers while they're vacationing! And now you're still at it. For God's sake, leave her alone.

Leaving the message for L made me feel better, better enough to focus on my book and the beautiful sunshine. I decided that either J would step up and put the kabash on things or I would step up and lambaste M if L didn't speak up first. That is, if M calls me tonight, I'm taking the call, not avoiding it, and I'm telling her that what she's doing sucks. And I'm not talking about her affair. (No pun intended. On the other hand, what the hell, the pun works too.) F**king ridiculous. I took a deep breath, prayed for strength and resolution, and moved on with my day.

I stayed at the pool for longer than I should have, but what the heck. I finished Summer Reading (a must read!), and got about 100 pages into Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston (also very good). Now I'm waiting for my scripts to be filled. Once they are ready I'll pick them up and head to my parents' for the produce and pancakes and maybe a little venting while my dad changes my brake light bulb. Then I'll come home and get my cocktail on while packing for Newport.

My cousin D and I texted while I was by the pool. She too (and her daughter, whose name also starts with L) is on L and J's short list for Newport. We're both excited and able to poke fun at the M and V terrorism thing. That definitely played a part in my feeling better too. I wrote Let's take lots of pics and show them at the next family gathering. D wrote: How about the pig roast? (M and V's annual bash). Another time she wrote I'm sending L early. 5 dollars should be enough, no? (Last year when they left A there with L and J they didn't leave A any money.)

Honestly, I feel like there's something special about the time we will spend in Newport. Last year was a blast with them, and come Easter we honestly weren't sure there would be another Newport vacation. But God Bless there is. L and her daughter (only 9) and D (same age as Liz) and her daughter (21) and me, no daughter but not out of place. I can see the photo of the 5 of us on the girls' night out S is so excited about having, and years from now thinking, it was so worth it to keep M and V et al out of the mix, dodging the ambush bullets so we could have that precious time together that we didn't know was so limited. Or were unwilling to acknowledge. That was a special time for us, and it wouldn't have been the same with the miasma there.

D, the relationship L and I have with her, the connection we all have to Newport, and D's cancer deserve an entry of their own. Even if I had the time I'm not sure I'd have the fortitude to write it tonight. In fact, I am tearing up just thinking about it. I guess I'll have a cocktail in me before my errands...

Hope you are all okay. If I don't write again tonight, let me say I hope tomorrow goes well, I'll send white light and I'll write tomorrow during coffee before I leave.

Love you, Barb