A post in which there is a meeting in the ladies room

Well not quite. But close enough.

I had a call from our Matriarch today, and she pretty much smacked my nose for sending the email I did yesterday. I did know that there would be resistance, but they way I was reprimanded was particularly painful for me.

She told me I wounded her. That my email knocked her down. When I apologized for disappointing her, she corrected me "I wouldn't say you disappointed me. I would say you wounded me." Being our Lady, she was of course gentle, but it put me in a very bad place. One of the things I had a really hard time with during the breakup from my ex was that he had told me that I was insensitive. He told me that I hurt my friends' feelings frequently without realizing it. That was pretty hard for me to deal with. I had finally kind of started to come out from under that pronouncement, but the conversation I had today put me back there. For a bit.

I went to lunch, took a step back for perspective, and thought for a bit. I tried to think if there was any way I could make up for what I had done. I decided all I could do was send an apology, and when I got back I did so. I also realized that I don't think Lady Beth realized how saying what she did would strike such a tender place, and so I was probably overreacting. I decided I needed to lay that down.

Russ invited me to the shop tonight. Miss Kat and dana were going to be there, but when I got there there were a bunch of people there. That worked out perfectly. By the time I got there, I had mostly worked through my chagrin from earlier in the day. Before I went back to the shop I nipped home and wrapped Rhonda's thank you present. I knew she was going to be there, and after the day I'd had I needed to do something nice to make myself feel better. The timing of the gift was a little bit selfish, but she seemed to really love the present.

Rhonda collects little porcelain hinged boxes. Among such collectors, the Limoges Box is highly prized. She had told me at Christmas that although she still collected boxes, she had given up on ever owning a real Limoges Box. I knew little to nothing about them, but it seemed like relatively small dream to be able to make come true. After doing the reading and looking at literally hundreds of boxes online, I ordered her one. I had also bought her a pair of amethyst earrings, after finding out that she preferred them to diamonds. So I added the earrings to thetrinkets that came with the box.

I love to give Rhonda gifts. She loves getting them so much, and I got a really big reaction tonight that was most gratifying, and purged most of the sting from earlier.

We went on to have pizza and a lively round table discussion about some concerns we all have with the family before an emailed moratorium from our Lady abruptly ended the discussion. We're to have a gatherin' o' the clan on March 4 to hash some things out.
In the meantime, I went home and to bed. It's been a rough day.