I've been thinking a lot about my parents' upcoming trip out to visit Mrs. Geek and me over the holidays with a lot of mixed emotions. On the one hand, Mrs. Geek and I are adults with our own home, and it is good and proper that my parents come to visit us for the holidays. On the other, this means that my sister, her husband, and their son will not be with us for the holidays... and the holidays in my family was/is always a time when family should be together. I fear that this is first step toward my sister and being apart for the holidays, not by necessity or circumstance, but by choice.
The problem is that my sister's husband creates a lot anxiety in Mrs. Geek and me. We don't get along. I can be an ostrich and stick my head in the sand to try to deny it, but I don't like the way he treats my sister or my nephew. I don't like the fact that they've been living for nearly two years with my parents while he tries to get his career in order... with no end in sight. I don't like the way he just drives Mrs. Geek completely crazy. The holidays are crazy enough... don't sell crazy here, we're all full up. If this doesn't change, I can't see how we'll be getting together much for the holidays once my parents pass.
Mrs. Geek likes to point out that my parents, my sister, and I have had a pretty good run. Mrs. Geek's extended family was deeply split when she was in her teens over matters resolved in the courts - law suits, civil charges, and counter suits. She says that my family has fared much better than hers, and she is right. That still doesn't make the thought that we can't all be happy and together at the holidays any less sad though. We can't all "just get along", I'm sorry to say... at least not without grinding a few teeth and practicing some unwelcome denial.
said drgeek
on 2006-10-03 at 9:56 p.m.
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The Wayback Machine - To Infinity And Beyond
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