Everyone in this story is over 18 years old.
*****
"I want to go spend time with Jake our son, and his wife, to see if I can help him out with his marriage."
"Would you want my mom to come and try to help our marriage out if it was in trouble Marg?"
"Why do you ask that?"
"Think about it. Is it what you would want my mom to do if you, and I, were having marriage problems?"
"Only if she could help it along, then I wouldn't mind it if she came to help."
"You are impossible Marg. You need to let them figure out their own problems and how to fix things themselves or you may make things worse, than they are already. You are the only woman I know that thinks she can fix everything for her son, to make it better for him."
"I promised him I would go to him and help him anytime to fix whatever is wrong if it is fixable. Besides, look at you. You do everything you can to fix Sara's problems whenever she has a problem."
"That depends on the problems. I let her figure out most of her problems for herself which she does a pretty good job of it, I may say so myself. When it comes to boy trouble, I let her tell me what is wrong, and then I give her advice if I'm able to. Otherwise I tell her she has to decide if he is worth keeping around or not, and to do what has to be done to keep him or just let him go for her to go find another boy. Now if she was married and said she was having marriage problems, I would give her advice if possible or tell her the same as I would any other time, but to go and try and help out the way you're talking about doing, forget it."
"Yea right, you think. You would have done been out the door to run and help her out if you could."
"That is where you're wrong Marg but you go ahead and believe whatever you want to believe about what I'd do. I was hoping you would want to go camping with Sara and me as a family so to speak, since Jake isn't here and Sara is still at home."
"See, you would rather run off camping than to go and help your own son out."
"Now you just hold on right there. Unless Jake is in some kind of life or death trouble that I can help with, then I would be done out of the door and headed there right now but it is between him and his wife, Francine, and that isn't life threatening."
"It is to me."
"How is it life threatening Marg?"
"I didn't say it was life threatening I said he was having trouble with his marriage."
"So why not just talk to him and let him tell you what is going on and if you can, give him some advice that might help or let him figure out what needs to be done to fix the problem on his own. He'll never learn how to work out a problem or through a problem if you don't let him do it on his own. You can talk him through the problem over the phone but to go and involve yourself in the problem and do whatever you're going to end up doing, to try and fix the problem teaches him nothing and you may make the problem worse for him or, do something he'll resent you for from now on, for whatever you do."
"That'll never happen. I'm going no matter what you say."
"Go then. I've got to finish getting my stuff ready to go."
Sara then stepped into the kitchen wearing her shorts that fit snug on her little round butt showing it off, like she usually does and a tank top T-shirt, that you can see her red sports bra through it was so thin, "I'm all packed and ready to go." stepping over to get a cup of coffee, "Mom are you going camping dressed like that?" as I went to rinse my cup and put it in the dishwasher.
"No, I'm going to go to your brother's house to help him out with his marriage problem that they're having."
"I'm glad you're not coming to help me out with my marriage problem 'if' I were even married." I had to grin when Sara said that, as I was getting food out of the fridge, which was for the camping trip, to put it in the ice chest, sitting next to the fridge.
"Your dad would be running out the door to help you out 'if' you were married."
"I doubt that. Now he might if the guy I was married to was hitting me all the time which no man will get away with doing to me."
"I told you Marg just what I'd do and Sara knows just what I would do. She knows me better than you do at times, I believe." as I closed the ice chest up and got the next ice chest to fill it up with food.
"Talking to you two is like talking to a damn brick wall. You two are so much alike."
"We are? I don't think so."
"You do have a few things that you do that is what I do but, you also have some of your mom in you too."
"I can live with that maybe. I don't think I want to be just like you dad but I do love you for being you ,as I love mom for being mom but, I don't want her coming to help me with my marriage or my husband's mom, to come and help with our marriage even. The only way I would want either of you to come help me out is if that husband starts beating on me, like I've heard of husbands doing to their wives."
"That would be one of the reasons I would be running out the door to help you out with because that could be life threatening." then closing up the ice chest and the fridge door. "I got to take this out to the truck, and then I'll be back in to get our bags out to the truck and put them in, then I'll be ready to pull out of dodge."
"You mean to fly the coop."
"Pull out of dodge, or 'fly the coop' is all the same thing marg. They are a figure of speech for when one is leaving to go someplace."
I then took the first ice chest out of the kitchen through the door leading out to the garage, where the pickup sat loaded ready to drive off in. Once the first ice chest was loaded into the pickup, I went back into the kitchen and got the second ice chest, then went in and got my bag of clothes and Sara's bag of clothes, for our camping trip.
Stepping back into the kitchen, Marg was putting her cup in the dishwasher, then as she stepped toward the door leading out to the garage right past me, "I'll see you two when I get back, maybe if something doesn't happen to you two, that gets you killed." then she was through the door and closing it behind her.
"Why did she say that and then, she didn't even give you a good bye kiss dad? She didn't even tell me bye like she usually does when I'm headed out the door, for whatever reason."
"I noticed that. The only reason I can think of she said what she said and didn't give her usual good byes is because we're not going to Jake's place with her, to butt in where we don't belong."
"I sure hope I don't turn out like that if I'm in the same position you and her are in right now."
"Hopefully you don't end up in the same position. Now are you ready to head out?"
"I have my purse and the small ice chest for up front with cold drinks is next to the door there. I'm ready to head out to the wild yonder dad."