Summer is in the air?

This is the first big Holiday of the summer..I mean, summer ain't even here and people are already acting a fool!

I had a cookout planned with the girls in my neighborhood. We are all single mothers and we cookout a lot in the summer. Sometimes they are planned and sometimes they are just thrown together.
This one was planned.
Because none of us are rich, everyone is asked to bring something.
We all struggle with money, but we always manage to bring it together.


We were supposed to meet outside at the pool at 2 pm.
I operate on my own schedule. Always.
I was not ready to go out on time, because I was cooking. And waiting on other people to bring me their stuff to cook. These females. I swear.
Everyone else just buys stuff from the store. I can’t do it. I like to cook and I can’t stand store bought anything.

So, I when I get to the pool, I was not really surprised that there were a lot of other residence there. I mean..hello?...I know this is a Holiday weekend. The pool rules are that unless you are 15 years or older, you must be at the pool with a parent. Of course, this was not enforced.
And almost every child there, was not with an adult. It pisses me off, because if I were ever to send the boy to the pool by himself, it would immediately be a problem. The boy..well, he just don’t blend well for some reason. His presence is always detected.

Anyway...I walk down to the pool because I had so much stuff I had to make several trips, and the scene there was crazy! EVERY DAMN KID at the pool was at our food table just grubbin on chips, sodas, fruit, just grabbing whatever their grubby little hands could grab, just as fast as they could. There was maybe 1 parent in the pool area. I had no idea who she was.
She was talking to a resident that I know for sure does not have children.

I was like..What the hell?
“Ummm..excuse me honey” I said to this little girl, (I later found out that she was 8 years old..) she had just picked up a plate, and I had never seen her before in my life.
“This is not a community cookout, sweetheart, I’m sorry.”
She looked at me like she wanted to stab me!

She rolled her little eyes and was about to grab a slice of watermelon off the table.

“I’m serious..this is not a community cookout.” Two more kids that I had never seen walked up to get a plate off the table. “You guys! This is not a COMMUNITY PICNIC!
We are not feeding the entire neighborhood…I’m sorry..”

Next thing I know..this lady starts yelling from the other side of the pool.
“WHICH ONE OF YA’ALL SAID SOMETHING TO MY DAUGHTER???”

Ummm. That would be me.
But before I could answer, she yelled even louder.
“WHICH ONE OF YA’ALL SAID SOMETHING TO MY DAUGHTER???”

“I did.” I said.

“WELL..WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HER??” she demanded.

“The same thing that I told all the other kids..that this is not a community party.”

She was sitting on one of the pool chairs. She never got up and came over to where we were all standing, she just started wagging her finger at me while she yelled.

“Let me tell you something, right now. Don’t you speak to my daughter. You made her cry. If you have an issue with my child, then you need to speak to me. Don’t you EVER talk to my daughter. Are we clear?”

I was immediately heated. AND..of all the other mothers there, she was talking shit to the wrong one.

“NO, we are NOT CLEAR.” I said. “Why would YOU allow your DAUGHTER to even come over here?"
We were in the cut. Out of everyone’s way. In our own little area.

She said “If you EVER talk to my daughter again, then we are going to have a problem!”

“Looks like we already have a problem!?” I said.
“I told your daughter that this is not a community party, which is something that YOU should have told her, instead of allowing her to come over here and grub on a strangers food.”

She had nothing else to say, and really, neither did I.
I was done with it. I just don't understand why she got so pissed off. I was not yelling at her child. I was not mean. I did not tell her a million times. I spoke to her with respect, as I would expect someone to speak to the boy. Except the boy would never do some shit like that. She and her momma were busted. ~LOL~

None of us have ever seen this child before. None of our kids play with her. I have never seen her mother, and I have no idea where they live. How as a parent, do you allow your child to just bust all in the middle of someone’s cookout, to which, clearly, you were not a part of? And then how do you justify it by acting like a fucking ass?

The fact that I can not afford to feed the entire neighborhood is beside the point.
The point being, that if you want something..ask. Don't assume that you can just do what you want and then justify it with smoke and mirrors. It's not that damn serious.

My girlfriends all joked that "you can't take her nowhere!!"
Well, if standing up for yourself means that you can't take me nowhere..then fuck it..I guess they're right.
Next time I will stay the hell home, and ya'all can eat McDonalds at your damn cookout.
Since none of ya'all know how to work the grill ...~LOL~

Man, it’s gonna be a long summer.