We were given two months notice to move at the end of September 1993. I was thirty-seven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0NxhFn0szc (If I have a list of twenty favourite songs, this will be one of them. Fodder for some future posts?) Dippy and Dopey and I all naively assumed that we were together in this dysfunctional Christian community for life no matter how much we hated one another, but there were already faults forming. Dippy was rapidly morphing into a strident anti-gay fundamentalist and was attending fundamentalist and charismatic churches that only encouraged these traits. Unable and unwilling to apologize for the harm she had already brought upon us she simply blamed Dopey and I as jaded Christians, cold and hard hearted, whenever we tried to rein her in. It was really like having a superannuated rebellious teenage daughter.
Dopey's health concerns and her natural attachment to her family became another growing obstacle, as well as her horrible and vicious cat. She was not ageing well and became increasingly frail and in need of support and care, more than what Dippy and I could reasonably provide. Her family was scattered all over the world and her daughter and very well-off son-in-law frequently paid her airfare to visit them in England, the Netherlands and Australia. Her lovely family and in-laws could do no harm and no wrong as far as she was concerned and the concerns of the community and ministry were soon always taking a back seat. Understandable this but not conducive to growing a healthy intentional Christian community.
I had respectively become an artist and vegetarian and became increasingly involved and connected with the underground and alternative communities. Also not conducive to developing community. I felt so consistently stymied and embarrassed by the old ladies that I was also going through my own brand of delayed adolescent rebellion and increasingly distancing myself from them.
Dianne gave Doreen (oops! there real names. So sue me Dippy!) and I carte blanche to look for a house and promised she would be satisfied with what we came up with. She was not satisfied. It was too far from downtown and she didn't like the design. Truth was, we were a five minute walk from the Skytrain station and the train would get us downtown easily in ten minutes. She still wasn't happy.
We managed. I had a semi-contained suite in the basement though I still had to share cooking facilities upstairs. I had lots of room in the basement to set up an art studio, my room was big, I had my own bathroom and really revelled in having time and space away from them. Dopey still wouldn't leave me alone. Every time Dippy did something stupid and seemed ready to again bring Divine wrath upon us Dopey would come running to me for advice about what to do with her.
I gladly took off to Costa Rica. When I returned Dippy was in the process of trying to move her fat Ukrainian ex-boyfriend into the house. Dopey and I formed a united front and kyboshed her efforts. Again she resumed her rant that we were jaded Christians, cold and hard hearted.
Then occurred the miraculous. Dippy announced her intention to move out on her own. She vacillated and procrastinated. We told her to get off the pot. She left in late August and Dopey and I, relieved and glad to see the back of Dippy, went out to celebrate.
No comments:
Post a Comment