Well, since I can't really shy away from what's frightening me, because that would be particularly stupid -- I'm going to do something crazy instead.
MCC and I are going to Houston in May. To visit my parents.
How's that for insane? My mother has been after us for ages to go down and visit, and MCC and I finally got our shit together and coordinated schedules to make the trip. So we're going. In May. Because he really really loves me and I really really must want to torture him. Or something. No man would volunteer a weekend with my mother unless he really loved me right?
I told my boss we were planning on going and she gasped -- as in "WHOA. Big major step" gasp -- and if I wasn't entirely freaked out before, I certainly am now. I mean, he's already met my mother (ask him about the broken nose), but that's entirely different from being stuck with her for pretty much four days. FOUR DAYS IN A HOUSE WITH MY MOTHER. Hell, that's enough to intimidate me. My mother is -- to put it lightly -- a character. Lucky for him, my Dad will be there, and he will hopefully whisk him away for you know, guy bonding, that will hopefully save him from my mother's clutches, and her vast attempts to show him off to EVERYONE SHE KNOWS. Which includes all the gas attendants at the gas station, everyone who works at any restaurant she frequents, ALL of the neighbors, and pretty much anyone who may come into contact with us while we're there.
On another note -- there's my sister to contend with. Saying we don't get along is like saying Hitler didn't really "mind" the jews. I will admittedly say that a lot of it comes from my end. I love her, and would fight for her, but we're completely opposite and we just don't get along. She is absolutely brilliant, but chooses to funnel that intelligence into manipulation, abusing and lying to everyone she knows. She has stolen from my parents. She has intentionally caused hysteria where none was needed. She started running away at 16 (only to return at 21 pregnant), and basically still hasn't stopped. She sticks around until she gets what she wants, and then she leaves again, leaving a wake of demolished hope in her path.
She also lives in Houston and will be around because my mother still maintains a (tenuous) relationship with her.
I'm tempted to say I won't go. But in the end, I (and unfortunately for him, MCC) will eventually have to deal with all of this. I can't hide the parts of my family that seem so remote and foreign to me that you'd hardly consider we share the same dna.
Now don't get me wrong, there are lots of redeeming qualities about my family. They're nuts - but funny. My mother is occasionally crazy, but she's also fierce and intelligent and funny and cooks better than anyone I know. My sister, though occasionally degenerate, also normally fails to show up for anything, and she has two adorable (and demon possessed, I'm sure) children. My dad, while he takes great pleasure in sometimes driving my mother to the point of crazy, also has a lighthearted and great sense of humor. Regardless of their flaws, they're mine and I love them. I'm hoping he will too.
