My Father is having his 80th birthday in six months so my brothers
and I have been negotiating with our parents for several weeks on how
to celebrate. After
much discussion, we have settled on renting two houses at
Sea Ranch near Mendocino on
California’s northern coast for a long weekend. Other options were:
Lake Tahoe, Provence (France), Yosemite, Mexico, or Monterey Bay.
For his 70th birthday, the whole family rented a cabin at Fallen Leaf lake,
near Lake Tahoe. For my Mother’s 70th birthday, we all dressed up in
evening gowns and tuxedos and took a night dome car ride on the
Napa Valley Wine Train. Everyone ends up having a good time at these
events but the advance negotiations require time and diplomacy.
My two brothers and I have worked out that the best way of handling family
negotiations is a brief three-way conference call. It cuts out most of
the noise and confusion of playing the
telephone game.
That is, a series of phone calls during which everyone makes small unspoken
decisions and assumptions which result in general misdirection and irritation.
Everyone has agreed that my husband John is going to be the
cook (no contest there!). Now, all we have to do is figure out which
families will bunk together in which house. We have six months to work this
out. I hope that is time enough!
KatysBlog 