.....
Huh. Retrogrades may be annoying, may be confuzzled, may be revealing...and then sometimes they do stuff and you don't know what to do with them.
My brother just called me, to say hello.
We don't talk. Very different paths - liberal atheist-ish poly but never married hippie chick who fits in well in Austin, vs conservative hardcore Xtian with (as of 3 days ago) 4 kids, homeschooler for the "wrong" reasons, someone who sounds like a good ol' boy from Tarrant County on the phone, with a controlling wife. Furthermore, Mom says there's some resentments he's held onto since childhood about stuff he remembers me doing that I don't remember at all. So it's not a surprise that we have haven't spoken at all, except for 2 years ago at our grandmother's funeral, in...6 years? No, more than that, because their oldest is 11. I have no idea how long. Maybe 10-12 years. And I barely got a word out of them then.
I have never been introduced to any of my brother's children. Sent pictures, or birth announcements. Nothing. We really have no relationship whatsoever. I did actually meet my niece when she was 2, but that was by accident while Mom was babysitting, and that was 4 years ago. Mom tells me about the kids sometimes. That's been my only news source.
So you might imagine my surprise when he calls me out of the blue to say hello, and that when he swings through Austin sometime in the next few weeks, he wants to stop and give me a hug.
What is this I don't even. I've been 99% comfortable not having a relationship with my brother - just a tinge of regret/what it could have been like. Just because we're kin doesn't mean we're friends...I don't buy into that blood is thicker than water line. I completely estranged myself from my family a very long time ago, and after several years my parents and I called a sort of truce and we became kind of friends again, though at a bit of an arm's length. But my brother never did, and his wife hates any other woman being in his life, including our mom.
Now my brother wants to come see me. For a hug while driving through town, sure, but that's still lightyears beyond what we have had since adulthood.
Huh.
My brother just called me, to say hello.
We don't talk. Very different paths - liberal atheist-ish poly but never married hippie chick who fits in well in Austin, vs conservative hardcore Xtian with (as of 3 days ago) 4 kids, homeschooler for the "wrong" reasons, someone who sounds like a good ol' boy from Tarrant County on the phone, with a controlling wife. Furthermore, Mom says there's some resentments he's held onto since childhood about stuff he remembers me doing that I don't remember at all. So it's not a surprise that we have haven't spoken at all, except for 2 years ago at our grandmother's funeral, in...6 years? No, more than that, because their oldest is 11. I have no idea how long. Maybe 10-12 years. And I barely got a word out of them then.
I have never been introduced to any of my brother's children. Sent pictures, or birth announcements. Nothing. We really have no relationship whatsoever. I did actually meet my niece when she was 2, but that was by accident while Mom was babysitting, and that was 4 years ago. Mom tells me about the kids sometimes. That's been my only news source.
So you might imagine my surprise when he calls me out of the blue to say hello, and that when he swings through Austin sometime in the next few weeks, he wants to stop and give me a hug.
What is this I don't even. I've been 99% comfortable not having a relationship with my brother - just a tinge of regret/what it could have been like. Just because we're kin doesn't mean we're friends...I don't buy into that blood is thicker than water line. I completely estranged myself from my family a very long time ago, and after several years my parents and I called a sort of truce and we became kind of friends again, though at a bit of an arm's length. But my brother never did, and his wife hates any other woman being in his life, including our mom.
Now my brother wants to come see me. For a hug while driving through town, sure, but that's still lightyears beyond what we have had since adulthood.
Huh.