Miracles do happen

Last night, as we sat down to dinner, Galen got upset at Tessi for "lying" : she asked if she could say a blessing, and I said as long as it didn't include something about her doing well in cheerleader tryouts, as that wasn't appropriate. She came back with a little "I know," then hesitated, and said "never mind." Well, Galen took that to be 'lying,' and he got all uspet about it. He kept going on and on about it, adding comments about how I used to beat him with a belt whenever he lied, and wondering why Tessi didn't get the same. I of course disputed his claims, but he kept ranting and ranting and raving until I finally ended up asking him to leave the table - which he did.

He left after dinner for a while, to go to Anthony's he said. About 2 hours later he came back home, and to my complete and utter amazement, he apologized for getting all upset at dinner - all on his own, without me saynig a word, and in a very honest and genuine way. I was flabbergasted! I can't remember him ever doing such a thing, especially completely of his own volition. It was funny, because after he did, Tessi was going into the bathroom to take a shower and said, "don't take this the wrong way, but it's about time." Leave it to her to say what I wanted to in some sense but didn't! Fortunately, I don't think he heard it, as I was concerned that would just start something else.

Later last night and this morning, I found myself thinking "what does he want?" It seems the only reasonable explanation I could come up with for such a display of true remorse is that he wants something - money, privileges, more hair dye, something. And so he has to butter me up so when he asks, I am more likely to say yes. As of this morning, he hasn't asked. Oh, and I almost forgot - to top things off, after he apologized, he actually got a notebook out and started working on homework! Talk about the end of days or something. At that point, I was truly fearful that perhaps I had died and crossed over, or that he had been replaced with an automaton or something (of course, that would not really be so much frightnening as just plain interesting...)

So I guess today I will find out, probably by this evening, if it truly was merely a ploy to prepare me for the asking. Or, if by some strange miracle, he actually is starting to take SOME small interest in something other than being contrary, divisive, uncaring and lazy. Either way, it was nice to hear an actual apology, even if it was merely to manipulate me. At this point, I'll take whatever I can get! Ha ha!