CHOOSE RANT

Title:   Family Gettogethers Day:    December 15th, 1998 Author:  Ruiner				Ah, the family gettogether… a frightening source of humor in my life these days. Still living around my home area, I have no problem seeing my relatives whenever I want. There are a few who have ventured out into other places, other states (as I should), but for the most part, both of my parents families are still around here. And they're both somewhat large: my dad had three sisters and my mom had two sisters and two brothers. Any family event seems like a major event. Now don't get my wrong, I love my family. But it's one of those 'you're nice people - I wouldn't want anything to happen to you' kind of loves. I honestly don't feel the need to see these people that much. Yes, I love both of my grandmothers tremendously, but I'm not the type who visits a lot. That's just me, and I suppose I'll really regret it when something does happen to them. I do, however, attend a lot of these 'family functions'. They've been cropping up a lot recently. 'It's baby Elizabeth's birthday, so we're all getting together at Grandmother Moore's'. 'Tommy and Lori are in from Pennsylvania, so we're getting together'. Blah-blah-blah. And my mother has no problem dolloping loads of guilt on me if I don't want to attend. 'You know, your Grandmother isn't going to be around but so long…' Mom can be so charming at times… Yet I go, and I hang out with these people. In both families, I'm like the Alpha dog of the pack of grandchildren. First born on both sides, the other kids and adults respect me because I'm well-behaved and well-learned. Of course, they also know I'm a big, fat, failure when it comes to college, but that's a different story. The only thing is, I have to struggle to be sociable there. First and foremost, I am an introvert, regardless of how my computer voice may sound. In a room with many people, I usually don't feel like interjecting my comments into the conversation. It's just not worth it, especially when talking with so many dominating voices. And there is the fact that I have absolutely nothing in common with most of them. There's maybe one cousin on each side that I can relate to, and most of that is just pure cynicism and humor. Something wicked to cheer me up. Anyway, that's just to let you know the situation. For some reason, I didn't become what some of my bretheren became. You know, those children who reach adulthood and freedom and never come around again. I understand it, but I have a hard time doing it. I don't want my grandmothers to think I don't care about them. Take Aaron, for instance, the Beta dog of one side. =) He just left to go off into the Navy, and he hasn't come by to say one word to me grandma. Of course, he has no social skills, so no big loss, but I'm sure that might have hurt her a bit. A joke between us, when seeing each other in town was 'Well, see you at Christmas'. We knew there really wasn't any other time he'd be around. So let's go current with this experience. Yesterday I was at a pig-picking at my aunt and uncle's house. If you're not from a nearby area, a pig-picking is one of those ordeals where you take a whole pig and put him on this large closed-in grill and let him cook for most of the day. I'm definitely not a vegetarian, and I must say that the food was good. Good food is usually my undoing when being coerced into attending these functions. There were some humorous moments, I must tell you, and some good times as well. It was weird to see the two cooks, both in their black Stetson cowboy hats and boots, cooking the pig, beers in hand, crude comments every so often. There was one point after everyone had eaten and the pig had been stripped, that one of the men took a mouthful of beer and spit it on the open grill. Utterly charming, and I don't even know why he did it, maybe a fly was there or something. Funny, but gross. Another thing was that they left the head on while the pig cooked, something that doesn't have to be taken care of, it's just a matter of preference. Well, later on, they were gonna take care of that, when the two children of my aunt and uncle stood around. They're respectively five and eight years old, yet they were not mortified in the least. They were there chanting 'Cut off it's head! Cut off it's head!'. It was interesting to see something so not-PC occuring, yet on the same level it was disturbing. All I could think of was Lord of the Flies… Another thing that struck me was this woman named Elizabeth came by. She was a new neighbor to the people having the event, and knew them. Myself, I knew her because she is best friends with one of my serious ex-girlfriends. I inwardly groaned when I saw her, because I thought she had a low opinion of me. See, I knew she was protective of Alissa and didn't like the way I had broken up with her that last time. And for some reason, I thought she had said some things that put me in a poor light. I don't know why, but I think Alissa told me. (FYI, I keep up with most all of my girlfriends except Ashley, so I can get these details.) So anyway, I built up this cold exterior, in case I have to talk with Elizabeth. I act like one of those petty people I see at work, talking about other people. Real silly, but I thought she had noticed me and was ignoring me. So then, I'm preparing to leave, and she sees me and recognizes me. She becomes instantly friendly, and talks to me for about fifteen minutes about Alissa, and different stuff. Turns out, she's now divorced and living in this neighborhood. I was totally wrong on the assumption and I freely admit it. In fact, part of me was even thinking we could carry the talk on and possibly hang out some. I would have no problem with it, but I don't think I'll ever have to worry about that possibility. So anyway, in closing, what do you say? I balk at going to these events every time, but I usually do have a good time. I always have my car there, in case I'm bored I can bolt at any opportunity. It does put me in a situation to be social with people far different from my usual clique, and that's not all bad. Heck, I even made connections to get a Husky-Wolf mixed breed puppy at the end of this year, so good things come with suffering. Family may not be overwhelmingly important to me, but going along so as not to be rude still seems okay to me. And I think my other relatives appreciate it, so hey why not? B.Mooney