weekends are wonderful !

This weekend is very different from last weekend. I feel like I got a lot done.

Friday night I stayed late at work and then met T for dinner. It was a new restaurant that I thought would be fun to try. We split an appetizer and a dinner which came with two choices of entree. She had walleye, I had the steak and we both got some green beans and a potato. YUM ! We were going to split a dessert but we were full so we took it home.

Saturday I went to my 2nd job and was kept busy until 2pm. Saturday afternoon, I pulled up some carpet in the stairs and hallway. I did 3 loads of laundry and watched 3 movies (Bridget Jones' Diary, Walking on Water and A Beautiful Mind). As I'm so busy most of the time, I was very happy to see these videos(most people probably have already seen them but not I !!!) A Beautiful Mind was kinda personally scary to me because I feel that my mind is one of my biggest assets as well as most important to me. I also felt that they didn't show enough about the life of his wife, I don't know if I could go through that and say married after that many years basically having two children(her husband and their child).

As I stayed up really late to get all of that done, I slept in. It was wonderful but then I worry that I'll get everything else done in time. I drove to school today to print out all the articles on the syllabus so I don't have to do it in the future and so I can get started on the reading. I vow to actually do all the reading for this class. I ordered the book through amazon too and I expect it'll be here in about 2 weeks.

I also hope to get grocery shopping done and some school supplies for A.

When I first came home from work on Saturday, I felt a little lonely and called M and R, leaving messages to say Hi. After I got started on my work, I really didn't want to be interrupted and was glad that I didn't reach anyone.

What a mother !

My mother brought my child back home. She wanted to take A to her church picnic. Mind you, I don't care if he attends this church picnic, I believe that a parent's job of raising their child is to educate them on their choices and let them choose as it relates to religion. Instead of doing Sunday school, my church has Religious Education and teaches all faiths. One Sunday as I was picking up my child after the services, I saw the Jr High and Sr High kids were visited by an orthodox Jewish Rabbi, I wish I had a chance to be at that.

Okay so all the hub bub about the Episcopal Bishop was a topic of a discussion with my mother.

(Background about my mother) my mother and I have had some difficulties in the last couple of years, I don't know if it's because of the choices in my life, her controlling issues or her religious values. My mother also had an experience approximately 6 years ago or so in which she believed god spoke to her, I don't *not* believe her, but it sure caused her lots of trouble in her life(fired from her job, lawsuit and unemployed for 2+ years). A couple of weeks ago I was at her house and discovered a book about how god and "heal" homosexuals. I pulled it out of the shelf to indicate that I saw the book but never addressed it with her. At one point I felt that I was similar to her in many ways, I know now that we're likely more dissimilar than similar.

So back to the discussion...As she attended the church picnic and spoke so highly of the experience(for the attendees as well as the park employees where it was held) I brought up the changes with gay marriage and the possibility of a gay bishop. She indicated that she believed that Gays would likely get some acknowledgment of their "unions" but not marriage. She made reference to the fact that she has left the struggle with acceptance of homosexuality up to god. She also referenced that in the bible very specifically indicated that it was not okay. I told her that the bible mentions men lying with men but doesn't say anything about women(she agreed). I also said that the bible gets interpreted and perhaps it's referencing promiscuity not necessarily homosexual acts. She didn't disagree. I also told her that I believe the bible has probably been written by a number of people and was translated so we don't really know what it was meant to say.

My relationship with my mother was irreversibly damaged in the past and this conversation was very civil but continues to affirm that I don't ever expect to feel comfortable around her again. In fact I may at some point write some more about my experiences with her.

Luckily my Dad and siblings are wonderful !