selfish neice, part II
An update on my family situation- got these emails today from my dad:
Dad Says:
What Sheri sent me.
Below is Sheri's email to my dad:
Subject :
The party
Date :
Tue, 10 Jun 2003 02:23:50 EDT
Well, considering the fact that my good friend Dave, Jeana and her family, Nicks' mom and dad and my best friend Erin came the past three years and were naturally thinking that they were going to go this year....I do not believe I am going to attend. Myself and the friends invited never felt like they were doing anything wrong. I believe Jeff maybe be inviting someone as well but I will make sure he knows that his friends are not welcome. I guess I was under the false impression that this was for the June birthday people and I thought that naturally friends could come to ones birthday party. No one ever gave me any clue that they did not want Dave, Jeana's family, nick's mom and dad and Erin were not welcome. I am not prepared to let all the people I consider close to me not to come to what is part my birthday. I do not want them to know about our conversation so I will act like it did not happen and have a barbecue with them. I could understand if this was a family get together, but it is not. Every year the invitations were entitled "June birthday party" not family reunion. I know you were not there last year and maybe missed a few years but we have always have a "BIRTHDAY CAKE" for the family birthdays. I probably should not be typing this because I am really upset......but I am very hurt by what you said. I did not mean to be disrespectful at all.
I do not want to make what I thought was a birthday party get together any worse for you so I will not be attending, please have fun though.
Sheri
Dad's reply to her was:
Dear Sheri
I guess I'm not as good a communicator as I thought. I'm sorry you were
hurt by my requests, but what I was trying to say meant sense to me. I
was told this was a family picnic and last year when Twila and I went to
S Rolly it was all family as I recollect.
What I was trying to say was that the "planners" should be told ahead of
time if you intend to invite more people (10 is quite a few) and be
allowed to check out the food list to see that we don't end up with 10
more potato salads. It's only "courteous", don't you think? If I invited
my friends here in Willow I would want to know that they all were ok'd
by the rest of the family and what they brought in the way of food would
not duplicate what others were bringing.
The other thing is that when you organized the get-togethers you could
invite whomever you choose without noyifying the rest of us because you
were calling it a "birthday party" . This year we were told it was a
family gathering.
I'm sorry you are not coming this year as we will miss you. By the way
it's OK with me if you bring 10 extra
people wih you; I just ask that you check it out with the planners
and get a list of what they could bring for food ( and/or charcoal.)
I do hope to see you at the picnic as we both will be celebrating a big
birthday--you 22 and me 74. Happy Birthday, Sheri. You probably don't
believe it right now, but I do love you.
Grandpa
I think my dad was tactful, don't you? I haven't answered Sheri's email to me. I don't think I will.