My mom really irritates me when it comes to dating.

I live in a little town (population 3300) in the middle of farm land. There is literally nothing to do here besides sit in a bar or go to church. No lie, no exaggeration, that's IT.

This is one of the reasons I was hesitant to tell her I was seeing anyone. One, she thinks as soon as a guy gets involved with me that he should be my pillar of strength and do every damn thing for me. Thanks, but I've managed to get by the last six years pretty well. I don't need to be "rescued" again. I had to move one time and had been dating someone for about two months. She went off on him for not being there as early in the morning to help as she and my stepdad were. Gawd. She told him "Shirley's next boyfriend had better have some ambition, AND A TRUCK."

Second, she says "if they really want to see you, they can do some of the driving to your place. Don't be so desperate to always go see them." That is just utter BS. I don't like being stuck in this town. I'm sure as hell not going to expect someone to drive 40 minutes one way from a city with actual things to do just so we can sit here and watch paint flake off the walls.

As soon as she let those words fly out of her mouth I just said (and I'm paraphrasing. I was so irritated that now I don't remember the exact wording):

"Mom, leave the damn driving arrangements to me, OK. You always complain that I do all the running and it makes me look desperate. I have a very flexible schedule. B. has to be to work at 7:30, he doesn't get home until 5:30, he's usually in bed by 10:30. I'm NOT going to make him take another 90 minutes out of his evening to sit in the car to come here. He feeds me when I'm there, he pays for any activities we do, he drives us around in his car. It's not like I'm spending all of my money and he's not spending a dime."

Plus I love being at his place. He has about 5 acres of overgrown apple orchard on his property and it's so peaceful to go back there with the dogs and wander around. And if I worked at an office, I'd be paying to commute anyway, so what's the difference if I'm commuting to do something I actually enjoy or to go sit in a cubicle and be isolated for 10 hours a day?

Man, she annoys me.