I am not sure where this posting is going point wise today. I'm in an odd mood and this will probably just be venting. Sorry.
For some reason today I am bothered by how different my biological sister and I are from each other. We lived in the same house for, as near as I can figure, 16 years. With the exception of summer camp and a few separate trips to Grandma's we saw each other every day for all those years. And yet, I can't think of many similarities.
Other than we both have Mom's nose. (OK mine is bigger) Other than that we are physically different; she's tall with lot's of hair, I am short, bald and, as you can tell from the blogs name, in a wheelchair. Temperament wise are probably somewhat alike because growing up I always thought she was too emotional; but I later on discovered I am a lot more emotional than I like to admit.
She is a driven person. I am....not as bad as I was but probably still a lazy bum.
As adults, I don't remember too many conversations were we agreeded on things. I will add the caveat that; for my own personal reasons, I did not talk to my family for over 10 years.
I was through Facebook that my sister and I reconnected and eventually that led to my talking to my parents. But its through Facebook that I was reminded that she and I are very different. She posted something tat reminded me that she is one of those bleeding heart liberals I have a difficult time tolerating.
Same parents, same houses; I guess those separate life experiences made a huge difference. Oh well, you can't choose your family.....
Rob-
ReplyDeleteI will confess that this post about your sister did disturb me a little. You remember back in the day how close I was with my family? That hasn’t changed. We still remain very close. However, I want to tell you about some other relatives I have.
I have relatives that are faithful watchers of FOX network’s news shows especially the pundits. I have noticed a change in them. They go through their day in a highly agitated state. They are quick to point their fingers at the “scapegoat du jour”. (This week I’m sure it was those greedy teachers and their unions that caused the recession. Not those noble Wall Street derivative traders that deserve every penny of their TARP bailout bonuses). They have accused yours truly and other relatives of being “RINO’s” “Socialists” and “liberals”. In fact, if you disagree on one issue with them, you may as well swim your un-American-ass back to Europe with a middle easterner under each arm. (Well maybe not but you get the point.) In their eyes, moderate equals liberal equals communist equals everything wrong with the world. I don’t know if they always had these views but their nonstop watching of FOX news has brought out an ugly side of them in recent years. Nowadays, I refuse to talk politics with them. I love them but you can’t talk with a Zealot about some things.
It seems to me that you suffer from the same agitation they do. But I give you credit for this- you will at least switch on MSNBC to try to get a different perspective. I think underneath it all, you want a constructive dialogue the ends in results that everybody can live with and you strive to gain an understanding to that ends. The problem is that MSNBC does the same exact thing FOX does only from another angle. Thus faithful watchers of MSNBC can be just as preachy and bitter.
The point is do not let political views get in the way of your family relationships. You’ve worked too long and too hard on your recovery and your reconnection with family to throw it away over what really amounts to silly differences that really don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of your life.
Tell Lynn "hello" for me. Keep posting! I will try to reply more to your posts as time allows.
-Matt