The Joys of having a Bestie

Lately life has not been the best for me and the family but I like to think I face my challenges head on. However, sometimes my temper gets the better of me and these moments are not my proudest. The local City Hospice has been in touch as there is a charity called 'Care and Repair' who help elderly people with little repair jobs around the house that they cannot do. They come to the house to do an assessment, see what's needed and then send the appropriate tradesman to fix it. I think it's a lovely idea for those who need it. Last Thursday they called me at work at about ten to five asking if they could come to assess his needs the following day. They have my number as 1) He never hears his phone and 2) if he did happen to be passing when it rang, he wouldn't be able to hear anyone on the other end. I said I couldn't confirm if he would be in but as the slot was the following day I would go to his house straight from work and call the lady back. I went straight round there and he was in the garden with Ant doing a spot of gardening. Ant saw me and said 'Izzy's here dad'. After a few 'What?' and a few repeats, I heard him say 'Oh Hell is she?' Nice greeting but I let it slide. I said 'Right dad listen now and let me tell you why I'm here'. 'YOU WHAT?' he said. 'Dad, just LISTEN ok and I can tell you ... There's a charity call...' 'WHAT CHARITY?' 'Dad LISTEN! It's a charity called Ca...' 'WHAT CHARITY. I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANY CHARITY.' 'Dad Listen please and I will tell you... There's a charity called Care and Repair and they... 'WHAT CHARITY? I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.' 'Dad please just LISTEN and I'll tell you... There's a charity... 'YES DAMMIT. YOU SAID BUT I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT A CHARITY I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. YOU SAID THERE'S A CHARITY BUT I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT A CHARITY.' 'Dad, Just shush a minute, listen and I will tell you...' I was getting a little annoyed by now. 'The charity want to know if there's any jobs you need doing so they can take a look and see if they can fix them.' 'RIGHT WELL YOU DIDN'T SAY THAT DID YOU?' 'No Dad, you wouldn't let me. Now please listen...' 'I AM LISTENING DAMN YOU. YOU COME ROUND HERE WITH NO WARNING TELLING ME SOMETHING ABOUT SOME CHARITY AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOURE TALKING ABOUT.' 'Dad I did try to call first but you didn't answer. So I ...' 'NO OF COURSE I DIDN'T ANSWER BECAUSE I WAS IN THE BLOODY GARDEN SO OF COURSE I DIDN'T BLOODY ANSWER. WHAT A DAMN STUPID THING TO SAY!' 'Dad, My point is I can't give you notice as they only called me 15 minutes ago and I did call but as you didn't answer I had to drive round here.' 'WELL, WHAT IS IT YOU WANT?' he said impatiently. Like he was the one doing me a favour. I won't carry on the conversation here as it went downhill from there and although typing it out here is cathartic, I can feel my blood approaching the boil again just replaying it in my mind. It didn't end well and I ended up telling him what an obnoxious ungrateful old *$"%ing *$*£^er he was - there were a LOT of naughty words in there - very naughty words but they had to come out. I shouted them as well and of course I'm not proud of this but he is probaby the only one who can take me from calm to axe murderer in about 10 seconds. Anyway, my journey home detoured through the lanes where there are lots of trees and green and it calms me down and I can scream if I need and the trees don't mind. When I got home, I called my bestie and of course she asked how I was and I told it all to her again missing nothing out - the full unedited version swearing and all. I finished telling her and there was a pause and I thought she was going to say I shouldn't have said it or be shocked, or she knows what he's like or I shouldn't speak to him like that, or it's because he's ill but there was a 2 second pause... And she ROARED with loughter down the phone lifting a ton of weight I didn't even realise I had, off my shoulders. She's met him. She knows what he's like and she doesn't judge. My bestie is AMAZING and she knows who she is. :)