Maxwell 34: Vest Management While Climbing a 14er

[anachronistic]

My annual birthday song for Sarah, which I’ve posted for years:

happy birthday to you,

you’re trapped in a zoo

the bars you can’t see

but you’ll never get free.

[jegfile]

It looks like Steve wrote that birthday message! It's pretty much on par with what my father would have written (and he probably wouldn't know how old I'm turning.)

[petrushka]

Three of the four sentences in Sarah's birthday post include blessed, bless, blesses.  No mention of what the Lord might have in store for her, but we know.

[PennySycamore]

1 hour ago, LurkerOverThePond said:

This. Even if they are Maxwells and are probably kept blissfully unaware of anything concerning sweet fellowship, surely at least one of the "girls" must be curious. They do have the same hormones everyone else has, even if that doesn't suit with Steve's world view, and seeing attractive men (or women, God forbid!) must cause some reactions in them.

Those poor girls, getting the same urges we all get, and being able to do nothing about them, just pray them away and happily continue dusting the cabinets...

I am reminded of that scene in the movie Pleasantville where Jennifer/Mary Sue is talking to her "mom" Betty about sex and when Betty says that her husband George would never do that, Mary Sue says that there are other ways to enjoy yourself.  So Betty goes into take a bath and as she pleasures herself in the tub and orgasms for the first time,  she begins to see colors for the first time also.  Everything had been black and white before.  She also notices that she's not black and white either.  

Surely at least one of the Max girls has been confronted with a little tingle while she's washing her privates.  

[fundiefan]

And Sarah's birthday post is totally as expected. Completely void of actual love or respect for her as an individual. Simply trying to make her isolated little life seem like something that is good rather than a 38 year old being held back by her father and indoctrination.

Not everyone's life turns out as they hope/plan/want by the time they are 38 years old. But, most get to at least try. 

Sarah just gets cold birthday posts on a public blog that no doubt has minimum readers. 

[nelliebelle1197]

23 minutes ago, fundiefan said:

And Sarah's birthday post is totally as expected. Completely void of actual love or respect for her as an individual. Simply trying to make her isolated little life seem like something that is good rather than a 38 year old being held back by her father and indoctrination.

Not everyone's life turns out as they hope/plan/want by the time they are 38 years old. But, most get to at least try. 

Sarah just gets cold birthday posts on a public blog that no doubt has minimum readers. 

I am still having a hard time fathoming how old she is. She was mid-twenties when I first found the Maxwells. The reversals were kids. It's like nothing has changed except conferences and Uriah. I think she was happier traveling. I mean, of course she was...

[BullyJBG]

I'm not sure what the lesser evil is; this year's short-sweet-to-the-point post, or last year's where it was rubbed in her face that she's not living the life she thought she would be leading; being a wife, mom, and homeschooling.

  I suppose in 2 years we might get something like: "Our dear 40-year-old Sarah, we have failed you. Please forgive us", I'd like to think if we never see a birthday post on Sarah again that she asked them not to because it's too painful. Let's re-visit in a year, ok?

[3splenty]

I was driving through a smaller city and saw a sign for a wealth management company.  My mind went to the Vest Management Company, owned and operated by the Maxwells.  

I spend way too much time here.

[SPHASH]

1 hour ago, nelliebelle1197 said:

I am still having a hard time fathoming how old she is. She was mid-twenties when I first found the Maxwells. The reversals were kids. It's like nothing has changed except conferences and Uriah. I think she was happier traveling. I mean, of course she was...

It was the "ungratefulness" post shortly after Poor Sarah's 31st b-day that got me falling down the Maxwell rabbit hole.  Don't blame her for being ungrateful, still living at home, spending your birthday at an animal safari with your parents and younger siblings.  Seven years later nothing has changed.

[Bethy]

7 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

With such difficult circumstances surrounding AM’s health, I’m glad Teri didn’t go low with her birthday post again this year. 

That verse at the end, though...when I was a kid in a fundie-lite household, I believed that if "delighting myself in the Lord" (which I figured meant remembering to pray and read my Bible every day) would give me the desires of my heart, then it must work in reverse, and the reason why I WASN'T getting the pet I wanted was that I hadn't done a good enough job on that. We know from years of blog posts and the bio under the "About" tab that marriage/motherhood is the desire of her heart. Here's another year gone by that neither of those things happened...and a verse that seems to promise that if you're really delighting in God, you'll get what you want.

So the post is innocuous, but to me, the verse is a real slap in the face.

[PennySycamore]

@SPHASH,  if the whole family had gone on an actual safari in Africa, even a short one as my husband and I did, that would have been a very cool way to celebrate Sarah's birthday.  What was basically a trip to the zoo, not so much. 

[HermioneSparrow]

Happy birthday to Sarah.

I have a very conservative Catholic friend who's parents are super controlling too and have ruined their daughters' chances of getting married (they have four daughters). My friend was born on the exact same day and year as Sarah, and even though her life is similar to Sarah's, she's kicking ass with her baking business, doing conferences and making a fuck ton of money. I wish Sarah would have an opportunity like that.

[Black Aliss]

They may well have prayerfully shopped for Mary's new jacket because I recently bought the exact same jacket on clearance.

On 1/16/2020 at 6:41 PM, SPHASH said:

I would imagine the cops are hesitant about accepting treats from strangers, what if those brownies were pot filled or the cookies were laced with cyanide

I am guessing that the Maxwells know one of the police officers--perhaps he's one of the few non-Maxwells on that block--and that's who they call, and who vouches for the safety of the cookies.

[Black Aliss]

On 1/17/2020 at 9:12 AM, nelliebelle1197 said:

Steve and Teri may have the same issue with hunky male cops. You never know.

I suspect there are more skeletons in their respective closets than in an anatomy classroom.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

8 minutes ago, Black Aliss said:

I suspect there are more skeletons in their respective closets than in an anatomy classroom.

In Teri's?  You think?  Nothing she's ever written has indicated that she's capable of even fleeting joy, much less excitement, in anything.

I've long thought Steve's draconian focus on modesty stems from his own lustful nature and possible guilt over dalliances in his past.

I think if Teri has any dark secrets that she needs to atone for it would be in how she's treated her children.  That woman scares the shit out of me.

[Stola]

I recently rediscovered in a cupboard, and have been wearing, a winter coat my parents bought for me when I was 12...I'm in my 30s and 6 months pregnant... (My parents very much believed in buying with room to grow) 

So depending on the coat, it's not necessarily that weird. But this is the Maxwells we're talking about... 

[anjulibai]

I noticed they didn't mention Sarah's age. That says an awful lot. 

[NancyDrewFan1989]

Just read Sarah's birthday message. Honestly, it is better than I thought. Bland, but no mention of her being unmarried, childless, and living at home. At least Steve focused on her accomplishments and praising her. Unlike Teri's disastrous post last year, this one was short, sweet, and to the point.

[fundiefan]

1 hour ago, NancyDrewFan1989 said:

Just read Sarah's birthday message. Honestly, it is better than I thought. Bland, but no mention of her being unmarried, childless, and living at home. At least Steve focused on her accomplishments and praising her. Unlike Teri's disastrous post last year, this one was short, sweet, and to the point.

Just what you want your family's public post about your birthday to be.

 

 

[thoughtful]

11 hours ago, fundiefan said:

And Sarah's birthday post is totally as expected. Completely void of actual love or respect for her as an individual. Simply trying to make her isolated little life seem like something that is good rather than a 38 year old being held back by her father and indoctrination.

Not everyone's life turns out as they hope/plan/want by the time they are 38 years old. But, most get to at least try. 

This describes it so well. We all experience changes of plans, disappointments, and sadness. But most of us also get choices, successes, and joys. And, good or bad, planned or surprise, we get to go out to meet those twists and turns ourselves, and make things happen in the world. Most of us get to try new things, start over if we've had a setback, and control our own level of risk.

Sarah has none of that. Ellie is as close as she has come to having something non-programmed in her life. Nobody loves dogs more than I do, but a dog is not a substitute for 38 years of a real, complex, fun, difficult, choice-laden life.

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by thoughtful
riffle

[Giraffe]

 I found the 2nd & 3rd pictures posted of her a terribly sad commentary on her life - posing with other people’s newborns and then posing with the only being she will be mom to, Ellie. 

[anjulibai]

Ellie was really another dashed dream for Sarah, too. She wanted to raise and adopt out puppies, but that's not happening. 

[raspberrymint]

9 hours ago, BullyJBG said:

I'm not sure what the lesser evil is; this year's short-sweet-to-the-point post, or last year's where it was rubbed in her face that she's not living the life she thought she would be leading; being a wife, mom, and homeschooling.

  I suppose in 2 years we might get something like: "Our dear 40-year-old Sarah, we have failed you. Please forgive us", I'd like to think if we never see a birthday post on Sarah again that she asked them not to because it's too painful. Let's re-visit in a year, ok?

Do you think if Sarah asked to stop the birthday posts, her parents would make them anyway and tell her she should work on her gratitude?

[Giraffe]

1 minute ago, raspberrymint said:

Do you think if Sarah asked to stop the birthday posts, her parents would make them anyway and tell her she should work on her gratitude?

I’m guessing they’re all so stressed about Anna Marie that wasn’t even a consideration. They’re probably impressed they even remembered to post anything about her birthday. 

[MamaJunebug]

I wonder how long Reversal Anna has had some of those plaid shirts. 

My go-to coat of choice is a lumbering black number in the smallest men’s size. Love it for its many and generously sized pockets (some zippered!). Got it 13 years ago.

My go-to-funerals or parties-at-somebody’s-country-club is a wool Alfred Dunner. 10 years old? At least. Bought new or resale? Can’t recall. 

Mary’s had a coat for 10, 12 years? Get over yourself, whichever Max authored that tidbit. Y’all are not special.