my family is a bit like everyone else's. my parents have been divorced, but remarried each other. i have 5 siblings and i love them all, even if i feel that at times there isn't enough room in this WORLD for all 6 of us. having a family is great, and i look forward to having one when i am ready.
with that said, i have to admit that these days i can't stand being around my family for long lengths of time. being around them makes me want to gauge my eyeballs out with a melon baller. i am, by most people's definitions, an adult. and yet my family still treats me as if i were 12. it is some sick kind of complex they all have. dig the following stories:
INCIDENT #1
so i decide to join my family at one of my brother's gigs. he was wailing on his horn down at a local restaurant, close to my job, so i stopped by after work. i got to the restaurant and greeted my family right away, even though i was carrying a backpack that could sustain me on a mt. everest climb.
i told them that i was going to the car to change my shoes, and that i would be right back. my mother tells me to hurry, so as not to miss my brother's next set. i walk as fast as any woman can in stiletto heels, and i return to the restaurant to find that the 2 empty seats that were there when i left, were occupied by two friends of the family.
now i am not one to make a big scene (at least not anymore), so i sat at the other end of the table, surrounded by a bunch of strangers who were not interested in talking to me. but wait, this gets better...
my dad offers to trade me seats, and i agree. i was settling in between my mother and her aunt, and placing my order for dinner. i couldn't be more happy. seafood etouffee. my mouth was watering at the thought of it. and then it finally arrived.
it looked DELICIOUS! i hadn't had a real meal all day, and i was finishing up with my salad, anticipating the first bite of the etouffee. without any warning, my mother grabs a spoon and begins to eat my etouffee. no warning or anything. she just started to eat MY FOOD! two things i find fubar about this situation. (1) she had already eaten by the time i had arrived at the restaurant. (2) SHE HAD ORDERED THE SAME EXACT DISH AS ME. now i don't know about you people, but i am not one to get upset about the loss of food. it isn't that serious of a thing to me. but i am a stickler on manners, and hell, my mother RAISED me better than that. although that doesn't explain her LACK of manners... and here is the action that added insult to injury: she iinvited her sister to eat my food (i quote, verbatim) "hey sis, go ahead and try some of this..." i am still bewildered at this incident. i am hesitant of ever eating out with her again. so oblivious...
INCIDENT #2
now this one is still fresh in my mind, for it just happened an hour ago. there is a family gathering at my aunt's house. my mom volunteered to help out. i might have also volunteered, had i not been out drinking HEAVILY last night, and were fighting the remainder of a subtle hangover. but no, my mother (ever the helpful woman) volunteers me to help out. with my father nonetheless. i am feeling as dirty and smelly as crack-alley. all i want to do is get home so i can shower and change out of the clothes that i had been stuck in for the past 30+ hours. but no... i have to help. i like to be helpful, but when i am tired, and nursing a hangover, i NEED TO REST!!! i turn into a royal bitch if i don't. so this is when my mom starts in on me. "well you can't go until your father is done, and he can't go until he gets help. so if you help it will go by faster. i was so pissed after hearing this. my reasoning is more like this... yes i want to get home to shower and change, but i don't mind relaxing while everyone else works. even if it takes them twice as long to complete the task without my assistance. i might sound a little self-centered in that last comment, but i am far from it. so now i am at home, posting articles in my blog because my mother has completely turned me off from wanting to be at the family gathering.
i devote so much of my time to helping my family, i hardly have any time for my friends. and what is worse, they only ask me. as i mentioned before, i am one out of SIX KIDS. five of the six kids being actual adults (there is only one under the age of 21). so why is it that i am always the one who is called? i believe the cause to be a combination of reasons. (1) i get the job done right. (2) i am reliable and responsible. (3) i am the first-born female in my family. (4) no one else will answer their phone.
it is tough shouldering that kind of burden. i am through with it. i still try to help my family, but i say no a lot more often. i have other things to do, such as LIVING my LIFE. "