I have a family. Most of you out there probably have the same problem. Families can be wonderful things, like when your last name is Hilton or Bush. When your family isn’t the Rockefellers or even the Baldwins things can sometimes be different. Do you think George W. has ever had to help Jeb move because he got evicted from his place? I don’t think so.
Families can be a demanding entity. When you’re the young one in the family you spend a lot of time trying to prove you’re worth something. When you’re the old one in the family you spend a lot of time trying to prove you’re still worth something. There are always new people popping up in your family every couple years. When there aren’t, then the daughters turned mothers turned grandmothers start meddling. Grandmothers are always meddling; my mother didn’t even start meddling till she became a grandmother. I’m pretty sure she didn’t even notice. It’s like a hormone that’s secreted in women when their children spawn, interferon. Maybe it’s called something else but I think that’s a great name for it.
Dads kind of suck too, don’t they? I’m a dad and I know I suck sometimes. I’m expected to do a lot though. I can see why old guys are so cranky, they do a lot of crap. Too much crap if you ask me. My dad’s sole responsibility in life is to keep my mother happy and he can’t even do that right. My sole responsibility has evolved into the same and let me tell you, it’s not easy keeping a wife happy, let alone a mother or grandmother. My father used to have parents he had to keep happy too. I know it’s always a hard thing to do to loose parents, but that takes a lot of pressure off.
Today, I helped my uncle move while being reunited with this semi-estranged family member down on his luck because he makes poor life decisions. What would possess me to put myself in such an uncomfortable situation? Just because I was asked to, which means I’m expected to, or face wearing the family mask of shame. I really only dislike very few people in this world, but a majority of them are family members and I’m sure many people feel the same. Is it the qualities we see in ourselves that we can’t bare to see and thus resent our genetic kinfolk? Or is my uncle Jeff just a dick? I believe it’s a combination and that we should all just raise our children with one simple message: “Don’t be a dick.” That’s what I think.
