After the first person parked in the yard and came in, I was too wimpy to just ask her to move.

I'm mad at myself for being a wimp.

She was sitting down, watching me put out the cute, color-coordinated paper plates, napkins, and cups, when the second car arrived. I looked out the window and said, to the one sitting inside, "You know what? I'm kind of concerned about the wet ground and these cars making ruts in the yard."

I don't own my house. I rent from a relative, who pays for the yard to be taken care of and a lot of money has been spent to fill in spots and even out the yard so you don't twist an ankle by having a foot slip into one of the small holes as you walk.

So I continued, "____ (relative) is not going to be happy about these ruts. And ____, who lives across the street, will probably tell (relative) that I had guests who parked in the yard."

I was hoping this guest would apologize, grab her keys, go outside to move her car, and then the second driver would then see the error of her ways and move, as well.

Nope.

She said, "Damn her. Damn that nosy neighbor. As if it's any of her business. She doesn't need to run around and tell (relative) anything about what you do over here."

And so she sat.

Then the other guests in the second car came on inside.

At that point, I figured the ruts were already carved into the mooshy ground. Whether they backed out NOW or in a few hours, the damage was done and would be the same amount of damage either way.

So I kept my mouth shut.

I thought about saying something.

Today, I've thought about how I could possibly bring this up with these people. Would it even matter? What would I say? What would I hope to accomplish?

I can't think of anything to do other than when it's my turn to host next time, be clear (which I thought I was doing in the first place) and tell them where to park.

I don't want to rock the boat.

I don't want to lose these acquaintances. It's too difficult to start all over.

I suppose I'd rather have somewhat-friends who put ruts in my yard rather than being TOTALLY all by myself 100% of the time. I mean, I see these people once or twice a month for a couple of hours. That's it. No phone calls, no sharing of secrets as friends do, no relationships being built, no being invited to birthday parties or family events.

I don't have those kinds of friends.