Reaallly trying not to helicopter-parent.

We SHOULD be able to work this out, you think?



Rebecca is rather...terrritorial, shall we say. She always has been, always will be. (Smirk in the general direction of my one-day future son-in-law, whoever he may be since he hasn't appeared yet, and that's fine with all involved. Don't worry, pal, she can be a little difficult, but she's well worth the effort.) "I don't want to share my bathroom! I don't want to share my car! I don't want to share my LIFE!"



Well, too bad, dear. For the next three weeks, your brother is going to need a car to get to work and the two of you can work this out. At the end of the month, he's flying back to LA and driving his car out to where we all live, since he has decided to extend his visit. But for now, yes, he will be sharing your car.



"I don't want him smoking in MY car!"



We don't want him smoking, period, but that's another post, another day.



"He has to buy his own gas"!



Yes, and he does.



"Snarlsnarlsnarl, sharingmybathroom-wet towelseverywhere, mycar-mycar,mycar!!, mylifeisRUINEDsnarl!!!"

And of course Brandon retailates with a well-timed, equally articulate verbal assault.



I'd love to send them to their rooms, and I just might. Shades of when they were around ten years old, when the sibling rivalry peaked. I hated the bickering and fighting back then, and hate it even more now. I try to mediate, to run interference, but it doesn't help matters very much. A calendar with everyone's work schedule in different colored ink (blue for him, red for her) goes up on the refrigerator. It gets duly noted, questioned, and argued over.



Fortunately, after a few days of this, the situation resolves itself (for the most part). I went to bed early one evening, they stayed up (because no one cool goes to bed at 10:30, right?) uncorked a bottle of wine, and sat at the kitchen table and talked things out.



They DO enjoy each other, and have a lot of fun together. And...Brandon will have his car here soon.