A lot of self control, I guess. It felt good to have kept a lid on my reaction. That's a win for me, I suppose.
Then again, I wish I could have maintained that composure with xW this very morning. She called me during my drive into work today and began to accuse me of negligence for failing to pay for S9's upcoming field trip, the fee for which is due today. She pushed all my buttons and still managed to keep her own cool -- which tells me this was all precalculated on her part. At the same time she lauded herself and how she "always" handles these secretarial functions on behalf of our S's. She accused me of ignoring the note from the school about the trip, which I hadn't received, but she insisted I had. I contend that her mother withholds selected messages when the boys are at the xMIL's place for afters-chool care. xW rejected this and laid it entirely on my negligence, saying the note was "undoubtedly" somewhere at my residence. I ultimately snapped at her when she started into her old saw about me being irresponsible and failing to take care of my S's needs. I let it get to me and told her, "Oh, shut up!" I was definitely riled by that point and told her I did not have to take such snide remarks from her anymore.
I wish I could have held my temper, as that means I lost that little skirmish with her. I am working on this. She's still the one person on earth who still illicits such strong reactions within me.
