Dear Diary,
How are you? Today was... something else. My parents had another one of their classic verbal fights. I won’t go into all the details, but let me give you the gist of it because, honestly, it's kind of ridiculous. It all started with a video call to my uncle. We had planned to visit the waterfront promenade and then stop by my uncle’s place afterward. He had invited us over for dinner several times, but my dad kept insisting that we shouldn’t come over, saying we’d be a hassle to him and his wife.
Then, I heard my uncle mention going to the park, and I told my mom I didn’t want to go there. The park is tiny, and my sister and I don’t really do much when we’re there. So, I suggested we just go to my uncle’s house instead. My mom gave my dad a sign, telling him no, and then my dad lied, saying we had to go to a friend’s daughter’s engagement party, which wasn’t true. My uncle asked if he was lying, and my dad swore he wasn’t. After the call, my dad was clearly upset, saying, "If you didn’t want to go, why did you tell me to call him?" I think it really annoyed him that he had to swear to God over a lie.
That’s when my mom got really mad. She asked, “Did you tell them the girls are coming?” He hadn’t, and then she was upset, saying, “What are my daughters going to eat? Are they just going to watch us eat?” It was all so tense and unnecessary.
The problem with my parents is that my dad is like ice—he doesn’t know when to stop joking around with my mom, and she takes his jokes seriously. Meanwhile, my mom is like fire—she forgives, but she never forgets. So whenever my dad messes up, she keeps it in her mind, even if she doesn’t show it right away.
After that, my mom got even more upset because my sister sided with my dad, and my sister had a meltdown. It was a mess. Anyway, I’ve learned not to pick sides anymore and to be really careful with my words so no one feels like I’m aligning with the opposite side. My mom just wanted us to spend some quality time together, which is why she had chosen the waterfront promenade.
Eventually, my mom and sister made up, and my mom told her to ask my dad if he was coming with us or not. He said he would, so my mom made brunch for the four of us, and we finally went. Mom invited us to this ridiculously overpriced cafe in the waterfront promenade, and me and my sister, ever the heroes, decided we weren’t going to let them burn their wallets on our pathetic taste in food. So, we did the noble thing and picked the cheapest thing on the menu—pistachio ice cream. Because if there’s one thing we know, it’s that if you order a $4 ice cream instead of a $12 sandwich, you’re *definitely* the favorite child.
Anyway, turns out we weren’t as slick as we thought. Mom caught us red-handed. I guess she’s developed a sixth sense for poor decision-making. But then she did the unthinkable: she ordered pistachio ice cream and told us to choose something instead.Like mother, like daughters, right? She’d been saving up for this moment. Dad, being the wild card, went for pomegranate juice. Because nothing says "I have it together" like fruit juice.
Then came the main event: my milkshake and my sister’s milkshake, both covered in Nutella like a sad attempt at making us forget the existential crisis we were about to face. They arrived first.The milkshake was sugar-free. Like, why even bother calling it a milkshake at that point? I was about 2 seconds away from banging my head against the table And the worst part? I couldn't even complain because I didn’t want to ruin the mood my parents were in—they’d paid for this madness, after all.
So then came the pièce de résistance: Mom’s pistachio ice cream. After 20 minutes of watching us drink sad shakes, her ice cream finally made its grand entrance. If I had to describe it, I’d say it looked like a sad, frozen pile of disappointment. I took one bite and It tasted like someone tried to make vegan pistachio ice cream in the year 2050 after humanity had forgotten how sugar worked. No color, no flavor, just the cold, bitter taste of regret.
So, there we were, my parents paying for a “fancy” cafe experience that was honestly pretty underwhelming. At the end of the day, it was one of those moments where I couldn’t help but feel like we’d just paid for overpriced disappointment. But hey, at least we tried.
Sigh. Next time, I’m just ordering pizza. It’s cheaper, it’s filling, and, most importantly, it doesn’t make you want to bang your head on the table in defeat.
And then the final straw for the day came. So, let me explain—there are two sides of the waterfront, north and south, though I think they just call it that to make it sound cooler. Really, north is the front and south is the back. Anyway, the four of us were walking together, but then we split up into pairs—me and my mom up front, and my sister and dad behind. We were all trying to find the exit because the place was huge.
My dad pointed and said the exit was that way, so me and my mom went ahead, thinking my sister and dad were following. But they ended up taking the elevator (which we didn’t know until later), while we took the stairs. My mom got really upset when she realized they weren’t behind us, and I tried to calm her down, telling her it was okay, that they didn’t mean to leave us. Then, my dad called to ask where we were, and I told him, but my mom was already fuming. She said, "You left us, didn’t you? Keep leaving us—do you think we have lice?" I tried to mute the phone during some of what she was saying, not too much, though, because I knew she’d get even more mad if she noticed me muting her. I just didn’t want them to argue again.
Anyway, thankfully, I remembered the directions. We went to the restroom, then I led us to the parking lot, where we finally found my sister and dad already in the car.