Becareful!

I come all the way to the Netherlands, and it seems like I'm not all that welcome here. Forget about the fact that I hauled a huge mattress all the way across the world, or the fact that over half of my suitcase was filled with my brother's things...

Been less than 24hrs, and my brother's been going on about how careful I should be with the white walls and wooden flooring. I should not drop things, lest the object makes a dent on the flooring... I should wipe the kitchen counter clean and dry, or otherwise water will seep through the (mind you: waterproof...) countertop and start to rot... I must be careful of the walls and ceiling, or there might be 'bump' marks... Whatsmore, brother's also been complaining to me about what 'damage' mum has done to the kitchen, window sill, bathroom etc. Scratch marks, water marks, bike tracks, finger prints... I went to inspect the bath-tub, which just last week was the source of a row between them. Allegedly mum had used a rough sponge to clean the tub, which created some scratch mark... but however I look, I just can't see anything that's worthy of getting upset about. Least of all, I can't see anything that's worth making mum feel uncomfortable being here, especially as the whole purpose of her stay is to relax and recover from her chemo.

I think it's become an (unhealthy) obsession for him. I can partly understand why, as he spent a lot of time and money on renovating this place to make it his home (if it wasn't his home already before...). But then again sometimes the carefulness goes a bit too much. Earlier, I joked that mum should wear one of those anti-dust suits that scientists wear in laboratories and put on gloves when moving around the house. Now I think that it's actually very fitting.

Most extreme (and ridiculous) of all, brother even complained that because mum feeds our cat too early in the morning, it disturbs the cat's sleeping patterns, so she's awake at night and making a lot of noise...

So at one point I 'snapped' back at him: " Mum's here for not long..."

Only when those words escaped my mouth did I realise the double meaning behind them. I hope he understood what I said to mean she's only staying here for a month... but on the grander scheme of things, however unpleasant the thought, the words could very well be true too...

Brother did not say anything after that.