Sunday, November 11, 2007

Leave of Absence

I know a few of you have noticed that I haven't been posting for a little while. There are a lot of funky things going on in my life. That last trip to Washington didn't turn out so great, and for legal reasons I'm not allowed to talk about it quite yet. I also got the news that my sister is now engaged to a guy she has known for three weeks and wants to get married by December 1st. Woah! This isn't her first engagement by any means, but it's the scariest. Each new one was the scariest. I love my sister more than anything in the world. She's the only sibling I have. I grew up with her. Until her own kids live with her for 19 years there will be no one on this earth that has been with her longer or more than I have. Even parents aren't there for their children as much as siblings are. I was there for her in sleep, play, school, home, and EVERYTHING else. She does have a few faults though. She's never lived on her own for the first. Neither has this guy she wants to marry. She's not even responsible for her own finances yet. No car, no insurance, no money, no house... I could go on and on. Being engaged isn't the problem to me. It's the big rush that is baffling me. Why the hurry??? He still owes the military more time, so he's not going anywhere. Supposedly he's Mormon, so for his family it's appropriate for him to marry at 21 years old. (They're both 21.) If he's so in tune to his religion they why aren't they getting married in a church or in the presence of a minister/pastor?! They also say they want to get the military's medical insurance. If he's getting out then they'll have to pay for it anyhow. My sister already has insurance through the family, so that doesn't make sense either. My sister has been wanting to get outta the nest for quite a while. She's asked to move in with me a few times over the past three years that I've lived here. Every time I tell her that it's okay, but she'll have to pay half the bills, provide her own transportation and get a job. When I tell her this she flips and says I'm trying to control her, so she might as well live with Mom if I'm going to have so many rules! What??? I guess she thinks this guy is going to support her and she can continue to rack up debt and live like a princess. She doesn't even know what the generic brand of toilet paper feels like or the taste of the cheap cheese. I could go on and on about all this, but I've got to breathe after all. Okay. Okay. Here's a picture of Lilly I took yesterday. She lost five of her baby teeth last night. I didn't realize how big she's gotten until I started looking through old pictures of her. I have one of her sitting by the back door. She used to be shorter than the step. I had to pick her up just to get her in and out of the door. Yesterday she even jumped onto the couch all by herself. She's much more hairy than she used to be too. Her roots are even starting to show on her head. My baby is growing up! I need to get working on going through all the mail I've got piled up for me. It looks like there are some swaps waiting for me to discover! I'll be sure to post as much of them as I can. And...that's it!

12 comments:

Sandy said...

Awww Laura, I'm so bummed you're going through crud! :( You were sposed to have GOOD stuff going on when you were in my home turf!!!

And your sis...if you figure out what to say to her, lemme know. I have a friend doing something similar, and she had asked me years ago to STOP her if she ever dove into a relationship that way. But now she couldn't care less about what anyone else says. *sigh* I just wish we could wave a magic wand and show other women how ROCKIN it is to get out on your own and just take care of yourself a while---that we don't "need" a caretaker like some folks think! Aiyeeee...I've rambled enuf. :P

Lily is lookin ADORABLE though! How did she survive your time away? Did Deb take good care of her? :)

Debbie - StudioBeeCreations said...

OK, my friend....Now I have bloggers emailing ME to see if you are OK!!!..I KNOW you are a survivor...and I have already told you MY opinion about your sister ( Beeeeeeeecause you DID ask me)....You know how I feel about you....and that's that!.......now I MUST get an updated picture of Lily for myself...she's looking like a "tweenager" ALREADY!!

Estivalia said...

Lilly looks so adorable!! Is it me or her fur is a lighter color than what it used to be? :o

I'm sorry you're having issues with your sister. I hope she listens to you sooner than later.




(LOL, I did thought about e-mailing Debbie to check up on you :P)

jean said...

Well, I can't tell you how thrilled and relieved I was to see you had returned to blog land. I'm sorry you had problems (legal or otherwise) and I hope it all turns out ok. Please feel free to vent about everything if you need too.
jean

wanda box said...

Hey Laura welcome back I wish our lives could be a simple as stamping a card. I seem to be spinning my wheels and not even doing that lately.
hugs and smiles to both you and Lily
take care
wanda

Lorien Clark said...

Glad you are back! I check your blog regularily and was getting worried.

jayne said...

Hi Laura
WELCOME BACK WE MISSED YOU! I hope everything works out with your sister, sometimes I think we worry about our younger siblings just as if they were our children. But someday she will appreciate what you tried to do for her. Lily is just a doll!

Anonymous said...

Sorry about the crud going on. I love your blog so I hope it all clears itself up soon. A little insight though.... I met my husband Jan 26 1997 and we married April 26 1997. We are very happily married with 10 children and 8 grandchildren with one more coming soon (his 6 children, my 2 and our 2=10) We are Mormon. When my husband and I wanted to get married so quick and I was not a member of the church, we could not go to the Temple to be Sealed. We had a civil ceremony instead. If your sister is a nonmember, she can not go to the Temple to marry this man until she has been a Baptized member for a year. You can learn more about the Mormon doctrine at www.lds.org

Laura Evangeline said...

Steph-

I did do my research on the Mormon religions and inquired to the specifics from the source of my concern. I hope you're not offended by my rants. I also hope you were not engaged SEVERAL times, in thousands of dollars in debt, and knew your partner more than 20 days before you decided your husband was THE ONE. My sister and I were both raised Protestant, however in her teens she decided not to be a Christian of any sort. The reasons they are claiming to be in a hurry is that he must marry by 21 according to his family's wishes and religion. (I still have yet to see where Mormons have to get married by 21 though...)

Heather P. said...

Hey! Welcome back!!! :) I'm so sorry to hear that things are kind of rough lately, especially with your sister.

It's definitely scary that she might be getting married to someone she's only known for 3 weeks, especially if she's never been out on her own and had any real adult responsibility. I think my brother is a lot like that... Well, minus the getting married part. LOL He's never lived on his own, my parents still support him 100% and he's 22 now. I could go on and on about all the ways I think my parents are doing him a disservice by taking care of his every little need, but this isn't about me. :)

Keep your chin up, things'll get better! LOL, easier said than done, I know.

Anonymous said...

I didn't know dogs lost baby teeth. Why didn't I know that? I've raised puppies before. She's as adorable as ever!

Laura, I knew you weren't able to post for a while, but I'm sure glad to see you're back! I understand your concerns about your sister. You're wondering if she's using this as her ticket out. It does sound like they might be rushing a bit. You wonder why, if she wanted to be out on her own so badly, why didn't she take the steps to become independent. Rather, she's going down the road to becoming dependent on someone else. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. You're a good sister to worry. I guess we all need to make our own mistakes. There's always the chance, though, that this will turn out to be a good thing. I'll keep my fingers crossed...

Anonymous said...

Hey, I just found your blog and I'm going to add you to my google reader. I've known Sandy online for about a year now through OQC. I'm an Army vet - medic then LPN. Just gotta say about this post - I used to be Mormon, Feel free to email me! co4hfamily @ gmail.com Take out the spaces of course. :)