Friday, June 25, 2004
I paid everything and applied for everything necessary at Texas Tech... or so I would have me believe. The Father must take care of my tuition, which he now balks at doing, of course. Last night when I approximated the sum total per semester, he started laying on the guilt:
You have three siblings behind you...He did this to me last year, right before I was to go to The University of Missouri. He got cold feet after he paid the housing deposit and saw the tuition fees a-creeping from behind. If he doesn't want to pay for my college, I wish he would just make up his mind and tell me he won't, instead of yanking me back-and-forth.
Is that other school that accepted you cheaper?
You know, I'm not obligated to send you to college.
You're going to have to make compromises.
I'm not like your friends' parents. [Yeah- most of my friends' parents probably aren't blackmailing their children.]
Why did the school only offer you a Stafford loan?
You need to stop making demands.
I didn't have to pay out this much for Ashlea.
Quit flying off the handle.
I don't think you're taking this [lack of funds] seriously enough.
I told him last night (during a discussion of upcoming payments and such between me, The Father, and Terri) if it will make him happy, then I don't have to go to college. I'll just get an office job somewhere and snag a husband. Of course (and especially with Terri sitting there) he tried to retract; he told me, 'Oh, don't worry- I'll get you through college somehow'. He's told me before, 'Don't worry- I'll take care of it'. So I haven't been, at least not verbally with him, anyhow. Then he complains that I don't seem to understand the veritable realities of the financial situation. When I respond with incredulity, he accuses me of 'flying off the handle', and then he tells me to relax again!
At this point, I might be expected to express homicidal feelings toward The Father, but I shall instead admit I've never had the inclination to commit patricide... The Father isn't worth a red cent. I've informed him of as much, which in hindsight might not have been the brightest thing I've ever done, because he now feels he has some power to wield. After all, he can't be killed.
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 4:24 PM]