Family! Suddenly! Descended! Into my house! Yesterday!
This was a very surprising turn of events to occur in the week of Thanksgiving. After a busy weekend of cleaning and movies (Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, Walk the Line), I was all sorts of prepared for a somewhat leisurely few days before the nastiness of fitting in 2 family dinners + friendsgiving. Alas, it was not to be. My cellphone interrupted our dinner on Sunday night, and I ignored it, like I do whenever we are eating, I am uninterested in talking to anyone, or is someone I would rather just not speak to at all. A voicemail was left, and I was satisfied that I could check it at a later time, when not so engrossed in watching Band of Brothers and eating meatloaf, mashers, and green beans (foreverly known publicly as American Family Meal #3).
The phone rang again just as we were finishing up the eating. Noticing that it was the same person calling, and that this person is an Aunt of mine, I figured someone must be dead, as she is usually not this persistent, so I answered the call.
Sidenote!Twenty minutes later, Ben and I were shivering in the car, smoking quickly and making our way to Chili's near BSU. See, I had forgotten all about my mom saying something about a cousin of mine, foreverly known as N here (which is very handy for maths geeks like myself), moving into her house out in BFE for a while, and for which I have no... words to express my complete disbelief at anyone wanting to move here under any circumstances except death or children. We were greeted at the restaurant by not only the Aunt who called me, but N's mom, her sister (cousin R), and her boyfriend.
I have no family that lives within 400 miles of my home but my mother. Most of my friends have gown up in Idaho, if not in Boise or the surrounding areas, so most of their families live here and are here and in their faces all of the time. I haven't had this pleasure.
/Sidenote!
"A-hah!" thought I, as I looked across the table at everyone, "N has a boyfriend that lives here. She's young and just met him and needs to get the hell away from her family for a while. I dig." We enjoyed a lengthy, though eventually somewhat drunken, conversation with the relatives, then ventured home.
Yesterday, it all came crashing down on my head when my mom (to whom I am a horrible child - I hadn't seen her in almost 2 months), her boyfriend, her roommate, the 2 aunts, and the 2 cousins convened at my house before heading out east to the mom's house. This was an hour and a half of complete stress and pity for me. I've never had that many people in my house that I had to keep track of - it was like getting 7 ferrets and letting them loose in my house. The house had been freshly cleaned in preparation for friendsgiving. I now have to clean again tomorrow night.
It's not that I don't love my family, because I totally do. I have just become so used to being with Ben, and having he as my family, that I have forgotten all of the things that come along with family: the jokes, the loud boisterousness of 3 sisters together, the 2 cousin-sisters griping at each other. I realize that I will be the matriarch of this family some day, and that I should probably learn to deal with it. Sometimes, though, I wish my family was easier to take care of - like my friends. Blood runs thicker than water though (dirait on), which must have something to do with the feeling of responsibility I have for anything that may happen while my family is here. That's what makes them different. And that's why I love them so.
