This is probably why no one ever comes to visit

Today marked the end of our house guest experiment, Chris’ brother, Jason, went home today. We had hoped he was going to stay longer, at least through July, but he decided that he really wanted to go home. I’d imagine it’s hard for a teenager to be stuck in this Podunk state, I know it was for me. I always wanted to leave here, it’s not like we’re in the mecca of…well, anything. To make matters worse, it’s been raining for the past two months, I think we’ve had a total of maybe 5 days of sunshine all summer. So take a teenager not at all accustomed to life here in Seattle, err, I mean Maine, and coop him up inside, add in a crazy sister in-law (yours truly), two kids who find the need to ask 20 questions about your every move, and a couple of misbehaved dogs, I’d want to leave too. I don’t at all consider this a failed experiment though, I’ve actually learned a lot.

1. I am a huge control freak/total OCD/really should be on medication. I practically followed the poor kid around with a dust buster. I checked the bathroom after he took a shower because I wanted to make sure the bath mat was up. You know you have issues when you can’t watch tv peacefully because you just “know” the bath mat was left down. It’s so sad. Now, common sense would tell you I’d just ask him to pick it up when he was done. I never was real big on the whole “common sense” thing. Why have common sense when you can have a neurosis?

2. I am ridiculously possessive of my stuff. Saturday, Jason woke up late, sometime around 1 in the afternoon and he’d missed lunch. So he made a sandwich and decided to have some Oreos, but there weren’t that many left, so he finished the package. Well, they were MY Oreos, I claimed them fair and square, damnit. I was like, you ate all the Oreos? And he goes, yeah, there weren’t that many left. Now, I know damn well there weren’t that many left, and it really wasn’t a big deal, but I was really, really upset. Like crying. Hysterically. Chris came home from work, and I was like, JASON ATE MY OREOS! He was like, ok…do you want me to go buy you some more? I was like, No! I want THOSE Oreos! They were mine! Poor Chris was unsure whether I’ve completely lost my mind, had PMS, or was really that upset about Oreos. He hugged me and rubbed my back as I sobbed, he was like, shhh, I know baby. They were your Oreos. Shhh, it’s ok. Let it all out. The only saving grace here, is I didn’t cry in front of Jason, I pretended it was fine, I did the nonchalant head nod, and was like, it’s cool. It should’ve been cool, except I’m crazy and possessive so it was sooooo not cool.

3. Living with a teenager isn’t nearly as scary as I thought. Sure, there were times I could tell we were driving him nuts. And yeah, he sometimes communicated with us through grunts and eye rolls, but he was also really fun to have around. When we went to the mall, he was really fun to shop with. He actually cared what I thought and asked me my opinion. He didn’t watch the Disney Channel endlessly, and we could watch really inappropriate things with him that we can’t with the kids like, Kendra and Harper’s Island. He was great with the kids, and they adore him. And he enjoys making fun of Chris almost as much as I do.

So while it will be nice to be able to get up at 2 a.m. and pee without having to shut the bathroom door , and I did miss being able to walk around with bed head all day on Saturdays sans bra or deodorant if I chose to, I’m gonna miss having him around. Even if he did eat all my Oreos.