Twisted Entrails
Thinking about the Holidays makes me feel sick to my stomach. Why? Because my family is cracked up and full o' drama.
Let me give a little backstory... My parents divorced when I was about a year and a half old. Bitterly, I might add. After 30+ years, my parents (& step-parents) have made a peace of sorts. A peace that I pined for as a child, dreaming of the shared Holidays that I saw others have. Saying Grace and giving Thanks over a tranquil table laden with home-made goods and telling homespun stories of our lives' little greatness. "And what are you most Thankful for this year?" Maybe it only happened in the movies.
It finally came to be! Both sets of my parents in the same place, without throwing daggers from their eyes or the painful, awkward silences. 30+ years in the making, this peace, and after a couple of short years now it's gone to the dogs again.
My Dad & my Sister's relationship has always been strained. This reached a new level last year when she decided to cut him (and my sweet step-mom) out of her life. No calls, no visits, just the obligatory cards for birthdays and a painful distance that is tearing my Dad & S-Mom up. And it's tearing me up too, because I can't do anything but pray for them.
And so, the Holidays are around the corner, and I'm pretty much planning that wherever my Sister is, I will not be. I just can't put on the Happy Face and pretend it's OK anymore.
Let me give a little backstory... My parents divorced when I was about a year and a half old. Bitterly, I might add. After 30+ years, my parents (& step-parents) have made a peace of sorts. A peace that I pined for as a child, dreaming of the shared Holidays that I saw others have. Saying Grace and giving Thanks over a tranquil table laden with home-made goods and telling homespun stories of our lives' little greatness. "And what are you most Thankful for this year?" Maybe it only happened in the movies.
It finally came to be! Both sets of my parents in the same place, without throwing daggers from their eyes or the painful, awkward silences. 30+ years in the making, this peace, and after a couple of short years now it's gone to the dogs again.
My Dad & my Sister's relationship has always been strained. This reached a new level last year when she decided to cut him (and my sweet step-mom) out of her life. No calls, no visits, just the obligatory cards for birthdays and a painful distance that is tearing my Dad & S-Mom up. And it's tearing me up too, because I can't do anything but pray for them.
And so, the Holidays are around the corner, and I'm pretty much planning that wherever my Sister is, I will not be. I just can't put on the Happy Face and pretend it's OK anymore.