Weak Trees and the Family's Full of Nuts

Ok, so the tree did do some damage to the truck, but nothing more than a few handfuls of some decent scratches. I suggested that we call our home owner's insurance and see if we're covered for a tree falling onto the truck.

Who knows, right? Maybe we could get a new paint job out of it.

We just forgot one tiny little detail. Fortunately, Shawn remembered before I had called anyone on it.

About 3 1/2 years ago, Shawn's dad passed away. After six months, his truck still sat in the drive. Shawn's mother decided the truck was wasting away in the drive and worried daily about the POS (Piece of...use your imagination) Shawn was currently driving. So she simply gave Shawn his dad's truck.

After all that had happened, Shawn never asked for the title. Maybe it felt it would be rude, or perhaps we all just forgot it. Or maybe his mom felt it should just stay in her name. Either way, the title never changed hands and to this day is still in his mother's name.

A few months ago, Shawn's mom dropped a bomb on him--pretty big if you ask me--and neither of them spoke for a while. A couple months ago, she dumped on him again and both have refused to speak to each other.

Now, I usually try to remain impartial, telling Shawn that this is his only family and that he should make amends. However, this last time, it involved Shawn, me, and my parents, all of us being made out to be lowly scoundrels, and I for one am sick of Shawn's family dumping on him all the time after he's done nothing but help them for all of his years.

He even spent all his weekends for the entire summer last year building his mother a beautiful shed from the ground up. Oh, but not that the shed could have waited until the fall, when it was cooler, she had to have it now...in 100 degree heat.

Ok, ok, I'm off all that. So anyway, Last night Shawn told me he called his mom in the morning to ask if she any rope so he could tie off the branch.

"Why?" I asked flatly.
"To she if she had rope."
"Yeah. Why?" I said dumbly.

Shawn told his mom that "a tree fell on Dad's truck" and he needed to borrow some rope. She told him to call the police. As in, I am not helping you with your problem; call the police if you need immediate help.

Nice.

Well, at least she can't say, "He's never called me. I am not calling him. He can call me." That's usually the way it goes when she holds a grudge. Hey look, Shawn called first.



You see? You see why I don't get into family stuff? Many have told me I should write more about my nutty family. You have no idea what you are asking. And I just don't have that kind of time!