Chapter 29: Family Relations

My brother is living up here in Virginia now and yesterday he left to go to Florida and retrieve his family. Is it bad of me to not want them to come? They were all up here about a month ago so that they could look for houses and such, and I couldn’t take it. He has two little girls and they are squealers, his 4 year old talks like she’s two and runs around the house on all fours pretending to be a dog. The two year old isn’t so bad, when she’s not squealing. I know, I’m a bad aunt. My sisters agree with me though, they aren’t too thrilled at the thought of them occupying my parent’s house until they can move into the one that they are buying.
My mom had a good point though, one night when my sisters and I were complaining about the seemingly unruly behavior of our nieces. She said that they are not undisciplined or unruly, they are normal. It’s just not normal for the kids we have in our family. I mean, my nephew has a form of Autism and he still knows the rules better then these two perfectly normal (aside from being spoiled) girls. I guess we just aren’t used to having spoiled children in the family. None of us were what we would call spoiled and none of my siblings really spoil their children. My other brother and his wife make their son earn the money to buy things he wants (he’s only 7) such as movies and snack items. If my other nephew throws a fit he doesn’t get a, “oh, please don’t do that,” he gets a, “okay, time out.” And he goes to the corner and stays there until he’s ready to come out and play. Where did the spoiling come from? Oh wait, that’s right, their mother. I don’t think my brother got a large enough dose of his sisters when he was younger, otherwise he would know how manipulative we are and he would have learned some survival skills and he would have learned how to get his own way every once in a while. Instead, she runs the show and he’s her personal assistant who makes sure everything she wants happens. I’m sorry. This may come across as mean. I love my brother, I do. I just don’t know how I feel about his family.
It doesn’t help that the whole family has this understanding of our sense of humor and she is missing the connection somehow. No matter how much time she spends with us she thinks that we are the meanest, cruelest, people. And while that may be true for the circle of people she knows, there are certainly meaner people then us. When I was at Sweet Pea’s house this past November the way her family spoke to one of her sister’s made me want to cry, so see? We can’t be the meanest people, and in a family where everyone understands that it’s just that way and it’s not a form of verbal abuse, it works. Ringmaster just doesn’t get it. And now she’s been christened “Ringmaster”. Fabulous.
So while my family prepares to have an extra family in the house, I am preparing for my puppy to come spend the night tomorrow night. I’m pretty excited. I just have to remind myself that no matter how cute the puppy is, he’ll probably pee and poop just about anywhere right now. If I keep that in mind then I will still love him at the end of the weekend.