Julep: Taking Weird to a New Level

This time it's my sister in the crosshairs. Y'all, that girl is just strange.

My nephew turned 1 in the middle of last week. On his birthday, she called me at work (fairly early in the day too - I was planning to call her, I swear!) to say that they were going to celebrate his birthday on Sunday, by going to the Zoo. Apparently Nephew adores the Zoo, especially the giraffes. Bless. I'm fine with that. A little Zoo party is great for a first birthday.

Well, not so much a party, it seems. Then she said that they were figuring that they would go to the Zoo around noon, when Nephew was up from his morning nap, and stay a couple of hours, and people could just come find them at the Zoo. Oooookay ... how is that celebratory? I figured I was missing something, but it doesn't do to get into long Q&As with Sis.

Then she went into a long spiel about how unreasonable my mom was being about the whole thing, how she didn't want to come by herself to meet Sis at the Zoo. This did not seem unreasonable to me, but we simply agreed that I would tell J-Mama to come over to my house after church on Sunday and we would wait there for a call or text from Sis saying they were about to head out to the Zoo. Since Sis and I live two blocks apart, we could plan to arrive about the same time and meet them at the entrance to the Zoo.

Here's where it really got strange. Have y'all been to the Zoo lately? The adult entry fee for the Zoo is $13, which seems a bit steep for a cover charge to a one-year-old's birthday party. Admittedly J-Mama sprang for my ticket but I gather that Sis's four or five friends -- who showed up at various points in the Zoo wandering -- had to pay their own ways in. After we walked around about 2/3 of the Zoo, Sis announced that naptime was approaching, and everyone headed home. No cake. No presents. Not even a balloon.

I told Mr-J about all of this (he was working last weekend), and said, "Don't you think that's weird?" He said, "Not for your sister. You know how obsessively clean she is. I would never expect her to have people over to her house for a party. The only party we've ever been to there was outside." Very true. But come on, there are public parks with picnic benches all over this city. Tell everyone to meet you at the park, bring a cake and some balloons, and we'll watch the birthday boy chase the ducks. Heck, I could have even brought the dogs (Nephew and Black Dog are soulmates). But making everyone shell out $13 in order to walk around the Zoo with you? How is that a party?

-- I must share one more detail. When Sis was complaining about J-Mama to me on the phone, she actually said: "I cannot wait until y'all have kids." She did not say this in a mean or hurtful tone - it truly did not register that wishing a sibling would share the load of grandmotherly expectations is not most tactfully shared with your sister who has been trying to get pregnant for almost two years. To her credit, when I replied, "Oh yeah? Us too," she sounded kind of embarrassed and tried to backtrack. But for the love...!