Every Sunday afternoon, I call home to check in with family. They are usually in the car from church and my mom passes the cell around to my babies so I can talk to them. Today I called to check on a sick nephew and a niece that attended a high school winter dance. As I asked my mom about my babies, my sinister older sister chimed in the background “I read your blog and you need to get over yourself telling the whole world.” Oh no she didn’t! Just as I was trying to heal and forgive her, she went there. My mom is utterly confused because she doesn’t surf the internet. I send her hard copies of my blog and forgot to send my holiday musings.
My mom asks what is going on. I told her “it’s Snoopy, she knows what she did.” At that moment, my sister and I reverted to 7 and 8 year olds through a cell phone with my mom refereeing. I repeated, “She did it to Snoopy on purpose.” My mom asks my sister, “Did you throw away her Snoopy?” My older sister replied, “It was an accident, we were moving and anyway I bought it for her and it was years ago anyway.” Lies and she has incriminated herself. She didn’t buy it for me, my younger sister special ordered it for me through a catalog. My mom asks my sister, “Why would you throw it away? You know how much she wanted that and it was a collector’s item. Who throws away a collector’s item?” Then my sister’s older daughter is heard in the background, “mom you threw away Auntie’s Snoopy? It was the best snow cone maker. Everybody knows how much auntie loves Snoopy.” Still, my sister’s heart was as hardened as the Scrooge. She was not apologetic and blasphemous in her contention that she bought me my beloved Snoopy Snow Cone Maker. Then my sister goes for the kill, “she’s crazy for proclaiming it to the world in her blog. She should get over herself.” My mom, the referee, “that wasn’t right to throw it away.”
Mom said that they arrived home and would call me later. I told mom to tell my niece to pray for her mother’s Scrooge heart. I was trying to heal, but she re-opened my wound. I spoke with my niece (mini-me) that told me to heal. I told her to tell her mom that there will be no mention of my Snoopy during my holiday visit. It was not right and she knew it caused me pain. My 14 yr old niece sounded irritated at being in the middle of her aunt and mother squabbling like toddlers. I told her it was no different than when her sisters take her stuff without asking. Just please when I come home for Christmas, don’t let her mom mention my Snoopy. My niece spoke like a therapist trying to calm an excited patient, “auntie it will be okay.”
I will celebrate with my nieces and nephews (cookie baking, sledding, Auntie Ronda’s Snack Mix), but if my sister crosses the forbidden zone – I am not going to share my cookies with her or the Auntie Ronda’s Snack Mix and she loves that! I haven’t shared that recipe with her. So for her stomach’s sake, she’d better keep my Snoopy off her lips!!!!!!!!!
Ronda is an attorney, writer, and entrepreneur. She is a contributing writer for the Huffington Post. Originally from Chicago, she has lived in Los Angeles and New York. She loves to travel and is passionate about education equity, especially for first generation college students.