I started to write the "I hate family reunuions" blog but after writing awhile I realized how ugly I must sound to eveyone about not wanting to be with family. And how inconsistent that must sound when I know I have talked lovingly about my family. Most of us don't like family renunions but....we love our families, we love our friends....it is just the mandatory gathering of the family who seem like distant relatives and people we don't know that we object to.
I could make a long list of things I hate about family reunions and I'll bet if I asked you to add to my list you could find something to add to it.
- I hate meeting people who still call me Carla 36 years later.
- I hate eating strange concoctions made by someone cleaning out the refrigerator before the reunion.
- I hate getting stuck in the strange bathroom with latches that take a weight lifter to unlatch.
- I hate eating with those plastic utensils that are seemingly safe but nearly cut the end of your finger off when you try to take them out of the plastic envelope.
But I have discovered that all that hate of the family reunion is a bonding experience with those family members who felt guilty enough to go just to please the oldest member of the family who called us all to get us to go.
For those of us whose family doesn't care enough to have a reunion and have therefore never been to one, I say count it as a blessing (which really I know you do). I've decided that I'll be that matriarch that forces reunions when I'm an old-biddy. I really am missing out on a lot of family history and knowing where I came from. I'm not feeling the love and the bond of family...never really have.
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