In-Law Foul of the Week

So my in-laws, (who I love dearly, of course) are on the East Coast this week. QB and Mopsy’s cousins, Onyima and Onyeka, are both graduating from college -- one in Atlanta, one in Providence. Doc and Mrs. B are out from LA for a good 12 days traveling to both events.

Originally, we had talked about them staying with us in Connecticut for the week in between the two stops. It made perfect sense. They’d go to Atlanta for graduation number one, fly up to Connecticut to see our kids for a few days, then make the easy, 2-hour drive to Providence for the second graduation. Somehow, though, the plan changed. They decided that instead of spending some time with QB and Mopsy -- who they only see twice a year -- they'd prefer to stay in New York city. And, oddly enough, instead of driving to Providence, and making the 5-minute detour off the freeway to see us, they decided to fly.

There was a very logical explanation for this, of course. You see, Mrs. B. travels like a First Class lady on the Titanic. She rolls with at least three overweight suitcases (with protective plastic coverings, naturally), hat boxes, and several carry-ons. She can barely tote one of the small ones herself, with her bad shoulder, bad back, diverticulitis, etc. Given the baggage situation, she was concerned that there would be no porter on the Acela train and would find herself in a bind. (We’ve since learned this is untrue.) The airlines, one the other hand, can be counted on for their dependable baggage assistance. Hence, they made the decision to fly from New York to Providence (a three-hour drive), thereby bypassing Connecticut – and this pair of grandkids altogether.

Would they make up for this fly-over by making the short 1-hour trip to Fairfield county to see QB and Mopsy? Nah. They don’t seem to feel too bad about it, either. There’s been a lot of vague talk along the lines of, “Yeah, we need to figure something out.” They’d be delighted for us to come into the city to see them, despite the fact that this would mean a rush-hour trip into New York on a school night. Of course, we’ll be absolutely expected to show up in Providence, gifts in hand, to show our support for Jarvis’ sister and her children. If we don’t make it, inevitably it will be our fault that QB and Mopsy weren’t able to see their grandparents on this trip.

Not to overthink this, ('cause, hey, I've been known to do that once or twice) but by my calculations, the in-laws were willing to travel about 5000 miles over 12 days to see two of their older grandkids, but won’t go an additional 47 miles to see our children.

Here’s the sad kicker: today is Jarvis' birthday and they completely forgot.