fighting with mom

over the last 3 years, my mom and i have really strengthened our relationship - we're very good friends, and i've enjoyed this change from parent/child to friendship very much. she's been my WW buddy since 9/2007, when i started this journey, and she reached her goal and lifetime late last year. our 3 years together have been fun - for the most part, it's just been the 2 of us. my dad has been working construction in the mountains, one brother was at war, and the other brother lived about an hour north of the city. we had monday night dinners together at grandma's, spent thursdays after our WW meetings chatting and catching up over dinner and a walk, and had time really to get to know one another.

since february, a lot has changed in our respective worlds. for my mom - my brother came home from war and was discharged from the army in early march. he moved back to denver, and promptly into my mom's house. he got engaged at the end of april, and suddenly, there's been a wedding to plan. in may, the other brother moved back home to save on expenses and be closer to his girlfriend. my dad's project ended in june, and suddenly, in a house that used to be my mom and her dog, there are 3 extra people and 2 dogs (there were 3 for a bit). in my life, work has been tremendously busy, i've taken on a much bigger role in my sorority alum club, and i've gotten pretty serious with my boyfriend. our thursday night dinners have transformed into family dinners, and we don't go for walks any more. we've had to switch meetings this summer so that we could play wiffleball, and aren't going to meetings together any more.

with the switch in our meetings, the lack of together time on our own, and the extra bodies that are ALWAYS around, our relationship has started to migrate back to that parent/kid feeling. maybe it's because my brothers are home and pretty much inept of caring for themselves, so it gets transferred to me. i don't know. we've started biting at each other - i've been reprimanded and been given the "mom" glare more times in the last 2 months than i have in 3 years. our conversations are brief and shallow.

i feel like i'm 16. i hate it. i miss my friend.