Torture by Conversation

...I just called my mother to confirm some of the details of my return to the south, to Louisiana; and it was a terrible conversation. I asked questions, wanting only the facts and she kept trying to give me explanations and context. (In other situations that very complexity is what I would appreciate.) I was asking about the house in which I might stay (my mother's or my deceased grandmother's), I was asking about where I might have files sent. She kept trying to convey the difficulties to me: the crowdedness of her house (with grandchildren she is housing and rearing), and the sad condition of my grandmother's house. (Always, she has been a worrier, always aware of imperfections, of things that might go wrong.) I was impatient; and she would not give me the basic details I wanted or needed. I had to ask her again and again to just listen and answer the specific question being asked...Finally, I told her I would face the difficulties when I returned.