Two weeks ago today, Megan asked if she could come live with us. I immediately said no. I love my sister, but the last time she was here she was such a bad influence on me that I ended up cheating on my husband and creating a whole world of problems in my life from which I haven’t yet completely recovered. I couldn’t deal with her being here all the time. I’m still processing a lot of anger towards her.
The next day, two weeks ago tomorrow, I was asked to give my very first talk in sacrament meeting (which I will be giving tomorrow). And I was assigned the subject matter of “forgiveness.” Ugh. How did they know I needed a lesson in that?
So I did a lot of research about things in the scriptures and prophets’ writings about forgiveness. I prayed a lot about it. I cried about it. It took me 13 days, but this morning I called Megan.
We talked for a minute or two about normal things. Christmas plans. We text every day, but we seldom talk on the phone, so it was a little weird. After the conversation came to a natural pause, I said, “The main reason I’m calling is to tell you I forgive you.”
I think I know Megan well. I was completely expecting her response to be laughter. I thought she’d make fun of me for making such a big deal about forgiveness. I thought she would mock my religious beliefs. I know Rachel is respectful about my beliefs, but Megan usually isn’t.
But she surprised me. She didn’t say anything. After the silence had gone on for long enough that I thought I should ask if she was still there, I heard the sounds of her crying. I let it happen for a while without interrupting. Then she whispered, “Thank you.” It felt weird and good at the same time.
I told her she was more than welcome to come live with us, on the condition that she remembered that we have young kids in the house and she needs to watch her language and not leave porn and sex things laying around. I know her lifestyle, and I could see my daughters coming up to me with a vibrator that they found in the bathroom and asking me what it is.
She said that she’s been living in a hotel but really wanted to return to Boston after the first of the year. I suggested she come for Christmas instead, and she’s going to do that.
The good news is that I’ll have a live-in babysitter again, presuming that I feel that Megan is actually responsible enough to watch my kids. We’ll see.
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