When Alicia went upstairs, I asked Simone teasingly "why are you messing with you mom on her birthday?" She replied with a rant:
"Because! She only acts like that when you're here. She's totally different when you're not. I could be washing the dished buck nekkid (her exact words) and she wouldn't care." I ask, "have you?" She replies, "Yes! She was screaming at me for not doing the dishes so I just got out of bed and started cleaning up". A puzzled look from me, and she continues, "it's 90 degrees and we have no AC, I'm not gonna wear pajamas." (I wasn't surprised by this because Alicia had told me to wake Simone up once by knocking on her door, but not to open the door because Simone sometimes sleeps naked.
She continued to tell me, "some of my friends post pictures of themselves on instagram in their underwear or less. I would never do that. I'm not shameless like that. I don't know who's looking online, but it's different in your own home, right?" I just kept listening..."I don't dress sl*tty when I'm going out. I don't wear the kind of stuff mommy does. I don't judge people who do though, everybody's different. Like the time I sprained my ankle and you helped me out the bath. A lot of people I know would be like, no way! But then they post half naked pictures of themselves online. What sense does that make?" I had to mention at this point, "but that was because you needed help..." and she interrupted, "yeaaahh, true but I could've just waited or kept trying but then I just called mommy asked her to tell you and you were fine with it." I didn't know before that Simone had asked Alicia to tell me to help her out of the tub that day. She kept going: "and then when I was getting ready the other day and she kicked me out of her room. I didn't appreciate that. You were fine with it, so why did she have to shove me out of the room like that". I had thought the whole thing was just playful, I didn't realize how Simone felt. She went on, "She can come down here with no clothes on, but if I just say it's too hot for clothes she acts all offended. I mean, I wasn't gonna take it all off, I was just saying..."
I reassured her, "your mom isn't mad or offended, she just has a certain idea of what's proper for you. Like you said, everyone is different".
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