Crying, piano, and graduation:

friend: Yeah, I cried after my graduation, it was so bad (she had a paperwork mix up so she had to go last, and her parents got really mad at her because apparently at her school you need tickets to attend, and she wasn't around when she was supposed to pick them up)
me: I cried too. Because my sister didn't stay the whole time. It just really hit me when I opened up her stupid card with the fifty bucks in it, that mom and dad gave me because she didn't stay to give it in person, which I'd much rather she had just stayed the whole time than take her money. Heck, I was crying two hours ago. My mom made me cry earlier when we were having our "piano lesson."
friend: I can't believe your mom is teaching you Piano. She's going to make you cry EVERY day. Heck, that would make ME cry every day.

Oh, and my sister totally sent me a nasty e-mail:

I don't want to have a big fight, especially so close to Christmas, but this is bothering me so here goes. We came to graduation, we listened to the speaker beforehand and we saw you graduate. We came to dinner, which by the way, from our house is a 45 minute drive now (excuse me for wanting to eat at this place once every 3 years, the last time we went there was my 21st birthday). We had to
get a babysitter for graduation (not hard considering there are about three sets of grandparents always dying to babysit) and I had a test Monday (so the extra hour is going to make or break this test?). I did my best to show my congratulations for your accomplishment but had some time constraints. I'm not hurting for cash, but I do have a baby now and felt I was suitably generous in your graduation gift (More than generous. But it felt like being bought off).

I don't know if you aren't happy if you don't have something to complain
about? I use my own money for gifts (that's a nasty dig at me because mom and dad generally pay for my christmas gifts for people because I don't have a job. So there's an unspoken "as opposed to you, you cheap bastard!" at the end of that sentence). You typically complain about things like graduations (I have never complained about a graduation. I have complained about awards ceremonies before, but never a graduation). I can't believe you're upset that we left a little early after having seen you. I could've waited to give you the gift at dinner, but didn't want you to think we didn't do anything.

What the hell? I didn't say a word to her about it. Mom or Dad must've leaked how sad it made me. And I get a hostile reply about how I'm the jerk in this scenario.

So I wrote her back. This is as nice as I could make myself be:

I WAS really sad when you didn't stay for the whole thing. I cried on the way home in the car, if you really want to know. I really do appreciate the gift, it IS generous, but I would rather get nothing and have had you stay the whole time. Yes, I know I do complain about going to stuff like that. But I do go to it. It's the fact that someone's willing to sit through a boring ceremony like that for you shows they care. But I don't see why you're mad at me. Because I did whine about it quite a bit to Mom & Dad, but I was perfectly cordial to you about it, so I don't see what your problem is.

So anyway...... it's going to be an unpleasant christmas. Damn. Usually my sister and I get along. At least since we've grown up. I hope she's not going to end up being someone who's like this all the time now.