Mom wins.

Sometimes my mom and I will call each other to let each other know how shitty our days are going. I think it helps the other one feel better about their relatively less-shitty day. This started when I went to college and I'd call home and complain about school work and how there was never anything at the dining halls I liked. Once I called home and had to say, "Hi. I'm calling from Kristin's phone because I got drunk last night and lost mine." Sometimes she'll call and say, "I just got home from Massachusettes. My plane was delayed and I spent three hours at the airport. Then the traffic on 95 was really bad. I hope you're having a better day than I am."

Lately, my mom's been winning the Shitty Day Contest, since this summer she's spent a lot of time at the hospital or over at my grandparents' house. After my grandmother died, she's been dealing with my grandfather, who is obviously having a rough time as well. My grandparents had a woman stay with them during the day and helping them run errands, but she would leave in the afternoon, so my mom has been responsible for getting my grandfather food for dinner and staying with him at night.

So in the last few weeks, she's been having a shitty time. When I'd call her and complain about how everything that could possibly go wrong during the move did, in fact, go wrong, she'd reply with, "I'm taking your grandfather to Richmond tomorrow to look at assisted-living facilities." She'd always win.

When I got home on Friday I saw that I had a missed call from her. I assumed that meant bad news because I call home so often now that they only call me to tell me something bad has happened. I listened to the voicemail and it concerned the woman who has been working for my grandparents for about six years now: "She stole your grandmother's credit card and went on vacation."

Apparently, the woman took the credit card and charged about a thousand dollars worth of stuff on it. She spent about six hundred dollars at Wal-Mart, which seems about right, because if I were to steal someone's credit card, I'd most certainly go on a Wal-Mart shopping spree. She also took the bill when it came in the mail, thinking she could pay off the charges before anyone noticed. My mother, however, is obsessed with bills, and since she had actually used the card to buy something my grandparents needed, she noticed when the bill didn't come in the mail. After calling the credit card company and finding out that there was a payment of three hundred dollars recently posted, she became suspicious and had them tell her what the last charges were.

So now she's fired (even though, after paying my grandfather back in cash, she asked if she could still work for him), my father had to change the locks at my grandfather's house, and my mother has absolutely no idea what to do now. Also, my grandfather turned ninety on Saturday, and when I asked him if he felt ninety, he replied, "Today I do."

I'd much rather deal with leasing agents and U-Haul employees. Thanks, Mom, for putting it into perspective for me.