The past few months have been weird, family-wise, which is why Neal and I are both glad that we don’t deal with all the family drama twice in just two short months. We only “do” Christmas with one side of the family and Thanksgiving is our time for ourselves. This year, I’m very thankful to have a fairly drama-free life up here, mainly because both sides of both of our families are fairly far away.
Just in the past few months, I’ve had tons of weird and not-so-great changes in my extended family. Neal just learned that his extended family, too, has been subject to weird happenings. Yesterday, while so many others were trying to hold their tongues and stay out of family fights (and many probably failed), we just had a quiet candle-lit Thanksgiving dinner for two. These are the days that I’m thankful for family but also thankful that I’m no longer stuffed in the middle of family dramas every other week.
That said, I’m really not looking forward to being subject to some of the drama in about a month, although I am excited that I’ll be able to see my family, almost all of whom I’ve not seen for almost two years now. I do miss the people, no matter how much drama seems to happen. We need to make it a point to go back at least once a year for an extended visit, I think, since we do see Neal’s family so regularly and mine only about once every two years… *sighs* (I’m going to stop there before it turns into a small rant.)
Family is weird. You can love spending time with them, but at the same time, they can drive you up the wall. And with family scattered all over, it makes it even harder: how do you weigh where you go and when? It’s easy to be envious of people who have family scattered over a metropolitan area (or even a state), when we have family scattered over several states, and none of them super close.
Of course, having family too close can have its disadvantages as well.
I agree with all of that! I was just talking to someone who said, “Luckily, they’ll [some family members] still be about four hours away, so they won’t expect us to visit all the time.”
My reply? “Don’t be too sure about that!” I let her know some of our issues even with family three or more (depending how much further south they are) hours away. Notice, people! Give us notice when you want us to do something. And a few days is NOT notice.
I’m not sure if I’m more excited to see you or if I were to actually see Santa show up at my house Christmas Eve. Either way, as long as we’ve got an extra bed or air mattress you will always be welcome to visit this area free of hotel charges and family drama.
You know what, that makes me feel great!
I just love how relaxing it is to visit you guys.