Chapter 9 will be split into a few parts – it was an action-packed summer with Bratty living with us full time!

In May, a newly bald Bratty returned from Amsterdam.  Shortly after her return, SO had to depart on a quick business trip.  So it was just Bratty and I for her first couple of days. 

She slept a lot from the jet lag, and I let her have her quiet time.  I made some simple dinners and she would come down and eat with me, but the conversation was sparse.  ‘So tell me about Amsterdam’.  ‘It was nice’, was Bratty’s response.  I figured she was tired and re-adjusting and things would get better once SO returned.  And it was a good opportunity, I thought, for Bratty and I to spend some quality time together and maybe get past the discomfort.

Bratty returned with laundry to do (of course) and our rule for the upstairs laundry room is that we clear out once the clothes are dry.  In other words, no leaving the clothes in the dryer for days on end or leaving partially folded loads around.  That is actually SO’s rule.  After living alone for many years I got into the (admittedly lazy) habit of leaving clothes in the dryer for a few days before getting around to folding them.  Yes, they got a bit wrinkled and no I didn’t care, LOL.  But since SO and I were living together, he (understandably) got annoyed when trying to put his clothes in the dryer and finding some still sitting in there.  So, that was his pet peeve that lead to our rule for the laundry room. 

Except he never told Bratty.  So Bratty of course take over the laundry room and it looks like a bomb went off in there.  Clothes everywhere, some folded, some in a basket.  Ironing table left out.  SO returns from his business trip and asks how things are going.  I said fine so far except for the laundry room.  He asks what I meant and I told him to go look for himself.  He did, and immediately asked Bratty to clear out the rest of her clothes and she obeyed.

SO and Bratty start talking about her summer plans.  Bratty complained all the ‘good’ internships were already gone and she couldn’t interview for them while in Amsterdam.  SO asked Bratty if she could volunteer for our local congressperson again (as she had the summer before) and Bratty said yes but it was unpaid and she wanted to make some money over the summer.  Bratty said she would get a part-time job, and also said she wanted to return to therapy to deal with her issues with ‘middle-aged women like her program director in Amsterdam’.  Bratty said she wanted to do some summer trips and take guitar lessons (SO had gifted her a few beginning guitar lessons for Christmas).  SO said that all sounded fine.  Bratty then said she wanted to make some medical appointments to deal with her endometriosis and get a diagnosis and eventually surgery.  SO said whatever, go to the doctor and see what they say.

All this sounds like the start of a pretty full summer for a 19, soon to be 20 year old.  Bratty had access to her own car (sidebar:  I had purchased a new car for myself and still had my old car around as an extra and was going to sell it.  But since Bratty would be with us that summer, SO and I decided that he could drive my old car and Bratty could drive his 12 year old convertible for the summer).  Given Bratty’s plans, and the fact that she had access to her own car, I figured I wouldn’t see much of her around the house.  Or would I…in the next installment we’ll how Bratty made out on her plans.