My Crazy Mother Strikes Again

One would think that I would be used to my mother's shenanigans by now.

Unfortunately, she is the only person on this planet that can have my blood boil and make me cry at the same time, all while unnecessarily blaming myself for having done everything wrong.

Earlier last week I asked my mom to be on the lookout for a new winter coat for me. My mom loves to shop and particularly loves to have something specific to look for. I know that she often goes to the mall with her girlfriends or sisters so I knew that it would be something that she would enjoy doing.

She called this morning while I was on my way from yoga and she told Mr JB that she may have found a coat for me. I was pretty happy to hear that so I called her as soon as I walked in the door. She was very pleasant and said that she would even put the coat on layaway for me if she found one in my size (she knows my taste in clothes very well). Then she gave me some news that completely shocked me.

Let me give you some background, before I continue: Mr. JB is deathly allergic to cats and when I moved into our house a few months before our wedding my cat went to live with my parents. It was the saddest day of my life and Mr. JB drove her to their house alone because I couldn't bear to do it. She has lived with them since April 2005 and has done so very happily. My dad has a cat and they have a large house and a big backyard, and there is usually someone home.

My mom has been complaining about her blood pressure for the past week and she's even taken time off of work (really, she takes a lot of time off in general, I really don't know why she even bothers pretending to work full time!) because of it.

Then she started telling me about how she wants to put my cat down because she's been missing the litter box. Apparently for the past week (which I find interesting since she has not mentioned my cat to myself of Mr. JB and we have talked to her pretty much every other day) my cat has been behaving strangely. She's been scratching the furniture, peeing everywhere and just not acting like herself.

My cat is a very laid back animal. She's almost 13 years old and she's always had a very gentle personality. The only times she behaves out of the ordinary is when she's sick. The last time she was really ill was when we moved to Ottawa for Teachers' College. I took her to the vet and she got some medication and then she was fine. I explained this very calmly to my mother and I asked her if she had thought about taking her to the vet and she said no.

I tried so hard not to yell or lose my mind and I explained to her that I would pay for the vet bills and medication, but instead of wanting to euthanize my pet, she needed to take her to the vet ASAP. She did mention that a new P.et S.mart had opened up by their house and that she knew that the vet was open on Saturdays and that she would check it out sometime today. I offered to take the cat to my old vet, but it would involve over an hour in the car which would drive my cat crazy.

I know that she's older and she is also very overweight (my parents are the most vigilant with keeping up with shots and that sort of stuff). Although my cat is an indoor cat, theirs goes out into the neighbourhood so who knows what the other cat has brought into the house.

Needless to say, as soon as I got off of the phone I broke down. Mr JB came up to find me crying on our bed. It also doesn't help that his dad is here and I have had to hold it together (I also got quite angry at him last night because of his use of "Chinaman," I've told him over and over again that the term is offensive, particularly because I am ASIAN!). He tried to backtrack and say that in his day the words weren't bad and I repeated that I have explained to him before that it is offensive to me so he should stop. I have never taken such a firm tone with him before, but I just couldn't take it, particularly because I asked him not to use the term over Thanksgiving last week.

Please pray for my beloved Fussy Cat. I know that there are a lot of animal lovers out there among my readers and that you would all understand my sadness and frustration.