Thursday, February 08, 2007

I like to eat.

Hmmm. From conversation with Elderly Relative regarding one of my sisters and her job while in grad school:


E.R.: "You girls are so good about having jobs, in high school, college, and after that."

(Pause while I consider how to respond to this somewhat startling statement, which was delivered in a tone that implied that we hadn't *needed* to work and were, in fact, working in order to have some pocket money for fripperies or non-essential travel)

KAEG: "Well, we like to eat."

(Pause while E.R. trys to figure out what I mean by this. It is important to note at this point that just this past month E.R. was complaining about possibly not having enough money in general while quoting an amount of net monthly *interest* income (which is what she lives off of) that is several thousand dollars more than MEL and I live on each month. And we have a mortgage payment and debts, aside from there being two of us.)

E.R. changes subject, because she has *no idea* how to respond, as if the idea of needing to work to live has *never occurred to her*.

Sigh.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

how depressing...i can not believe that elderly relative thinks that they are destitute...

Anonymous said...

ER suggested that I start having babies so that she can have great-grandchildren and I can quit work and stay home.

This came up in a conversation about people visting her, so I'm guessing she thinks that if I pop a few kids out I'll suddenly have loads of free time to stop by to visit.

Interestingly, it turns out you can stun ER into silence by telling her you won't be quitting your jobs when you have kids. I think I actually heard sputtering when I said it...

Anonymous said...

::crowing with laughter:: Sheesh. Yeah, I know ER doesn't really have a hold on reality, but wow. I am utterly certain that it hasn't occurred to her that
A) Jon's job, while decent, is not adequate to support a starving masters student...even if he wanted to...
B) I actually wouldn't have a job in grad school if we could manage without...just one of those things about how reading is easier if you have time to do it.

Yah. Kudos to MEL for managing the PhD, you both deservbe lots of credit for dealing with that.

Anonymous said...

So, K and W, when exactly ARE you going to have babies...'cause you know, SOME people want to have great grandchildren. I'm waiting for this to come my way. I figure it'll happen sometime around 2:30pm on July 14th...maybe we could start taking bets :D

Anonymous said...

She held out for about three months for me...

Kate said...

She has never directly bugged me. She once said something about how much more fun the holidays were with little children around (as if actual little children running around didn't irritate the crap out of her), but then dropped it.

I like the idea that if one has more mouths to feed one suddenly doesn't need to work to eat. *That* makes sense--although I guess it is consistent with the idea that we are only working so that we have something to do with our days. The thing that bothers me about all of it is that it all comes down to the fact that we are women. Do you think that any of the grandsons have ever been on the receiving end of any of this?

Anonymous said...

::snickering loudly:: um...I think we'd be better off asking Clare if she's gotten suggestions of white dresses and babies. You KNOW she wants Andrew to reproduce...and he's found a nice girl who happens to be just as tall as he is...what are the odds? She really is quite nice, and I imagine she deals iwth more ER than we do, considering....

Anonymous said...

I *almost* considered asking ER for some help funding my degree, and/or the wedding, just to see the reaction...but since ER will soon be on welfare we know ER would never do that...I didn't BTW, and won't. It's just tempting.

Anonymous said...

My favorite part was pointing out to her that technically she is a great-grandmother since she has a step-great-grandson. It was very fun listening to her try to respond without actually saying "that doesn't count". :)