Fill 'er up!
Today I went to go see my grandparents for the last time before I go back to school. They live in Conroe, Texas (about an hour and a half away). My dad and I drove up there and the car ride was so awkward. We are just so awkward together. It's like a wall comes up between us preventing adequate communication. Anyway my grandmother is this sweet old lady and my grandpa is just horrible to her. He talks down to her and is an insufferable chauvinistic pill-popper. My grandma told me today that he was a walking pill bottle, and it might seem horrible but I really have no sympathy for him. Yeah he has a lot of health problems but 1. they could have been prevented (like him being over-wieght) and 2. he loves to talk about his problems. And what makes it even worse is that when my dad is with him they over-exagerrate their leg cramps or back pains in some sick contest. Frankly I'm tired of hearing about how they are falling apart. I am very grateful for my good health but there is definitely a point where your plea for sympathy is overdone. And it really bothers me that my grandma has to put up with his shit. But for the first time that I can ever remember I saw him being compassionate towards her. She had hurt her arm and had surgery so she couldn't use her left arm. She couldn't eat her salad croutons by stabbing them with the fork because she was weak and she tried scooping them up with her fork. But my grandpa reached over and pushed a crouton onto her fork. Ok, I know it sounds stupid in simple but I feel that it was a breakthrough and that maybe he just has this crusty old mean shell and isnt quite so bad on the inside. Anyway so we always go out to eat with my grandparents because that's what they like to do. And of course they want to go to Salt-Grass Steak House. Well let's just say that I had a billion options as a vegetarian. Anyway I seemed to have ironically gotten my Texas fill-up before I leave because what place oozes Texas more than a steak house and my truly Texan, conservative granparents? With the country music blaring and all the people in their tight jeans and boots I think I won't be missing this for a while.