Family Matters

Before coming to college, I thought to myself "how can I just give up my family like that?" when wondering what life was going to be like in the near future. Now that I have successfully adapted to this new environment, I now ask myself "why did I believe in them as much as I did?" The following is going to primarily a synopsis of the drama that my family (extended to aunts and uncles) has faced over the past few years.

My grandparents have 4 children, Chris, Tody, Danielle (goes by Nanny), and Mary Anne (my mom), with the youngest being Chris and the oldest being my mom. I shall start from the youngest and go up from there. (and in case that they search their names, I shall not put their full names on this article, as I do not think they would appreciate what I am about to put up here)

Chris:
Art History Major, recently went back to school to practice Nursing. Favorite story to tell: how he got an RA's room and installed his "keg-a-nator". I shall talk about him in reference to two eras, pre and post marriage. Before he was married, he was a fun person to be around. My favorite uncle by far (to be discussed later). It was not uncommon for him to take me on drives down the street, go sledding with him when it snowed, ect. In other words, it was the most normal human contact I have ever received. He did, however, get into drugs along with his best friend during his high school years. Chris was able to pull himself out of it, but his friend has had it much worse. He's been in and out of jail, his father killed himself by self destruction of the liver, and the mother pays for her broken down house by opening herself up to customers. I honestly don't know if any of them are still alive today. Regardless, Chris was able to pull out of this nightmare and go back to school so that he could become a nurse. He then met Colleen, a seemingly pleasant person at the time, and would eventually marry her. Only after the marriage did things start to go a little crazy. During the election, it came out just how political she is. But since this is not a political post, all I will say is that if she found out that I was a Communist, she would have me taken out back and shot, and I'm afraid to say that I may not be exaggerating. Since they have gotten married, she has done nearly everything in her powers to bring misery and ruin to Chris' life. She portrays herself as a financial master, but has only succeeded in moving out of a wonderful apartment near the Rockville town center to a rundown townhouse in "cow-country" as she calls it (when a gps took us through downtown philly one day, it reminded me of when I visited my uncles new house. I believe my phrase was "close your windows, lock your doors, and don't make eye contact"). Needless to say, I do not think too highly of her at this point. A few months ago I found out that she got pregnant (they had been trying but with limited success). My exact words when I read the e-mail were "ahh crap", as that would only be a reason to stay together instead of get a divorce, forcing the child to grow up in an undeserving position.

Tody:
Cannot recall his initial major, also went back to school to practice nursing. Favorite story to tell: the fish that got away. Growing up, I never really used to like Tody. He had three kids with his first wife, born in 92, 93, and 95 and one kid with his new wife. His first wife was a psychopath, but it was not difficult to see why he wanted to have her children. He knew that even before they got married, she had been cheating on him. She even brought her affair to the wedding. It was not long until they got divorced, she remarried, and had two more children. Somehow she was able to "convince" the right person that Tody needed to be paying child support for her two other children as well (she knows what people like, remembers what she has, and uses that (or should I say them) to get what she wants). His first three children were almost demonic. The two older ones once locked Tody out of the house and put the youngest one in the oven; they have also run after the babysitter with knives. Today and Chris have not been on the best of terms since Chris' wedding. I do not exactly know the reason, but they have essentially ceased all communication with each other. Tody had two houses, one in Rockville (technically my grandparents house, he was staying there) and one somewhere in West Virginia. When he refused to pay taxes anymore on the house in Rockville, he was informed to move to the one in WV (I had a significant role in this decision. My grandma did not want to kick him out but I was able to convince her otherwise for reasons I shall not disclose here) as the one in Rockville was going to be sold. He started looking for another house, this time on the Chesapeake Bay (as he has a love for fishing and crabbing), and just after they moved in, the house in WV burned down. His life was finally starting to come together, and then this happens. It was not what he needed. The cause is still unknown, but either way this will not make his life any easier. *Forgot to mention earlier, also did drugs, but pulled out from it.

Nanny:
Sociology major, two children, soccer fanatic. This life is full of drama involving her husbands family, I shall get to that in another post if I wish to do so. Since this a post about my aunt and uncles, it would be inappropriate to go into that. She has your typical case of keeping-up-with-the-Jones' syndrome. Likely to have a shopping disorder, this anorexic sees things in her own, separate reality. She has a mountain of credit card debt, and it was so bad that she was begging her parents for money so that "Gabby and Nicholas (her two children) can eat". As soon as my grandma would write the check for $800, Nanny's house would magically get a gift from the plasma TV fairy. Give me $800 and that's nearly 2 years of my personal expenses budget. This went on for just over a year (I was able to enlighten my grandma of just how delusional they were both being). I frequently compared Nanny to a drug addict, and all my grandma was doing was enabling her by funding this maddness. I understand the mother instinct, but Nanny seriously needed to hit bottom, she has never had to face a financial consequence in her entire life as my grandma has ALWAYS been there to bail her out. It is partly because of this that my grandparents refused to pay for my college tuition, which they had been continuously promising me since I was in elementary school. The reason Nanny likes soccer is because she married a Brazilian, who used to play soccer. He passed this down to his two children, they enjoy the sport, but Nanny has taken this way too war. It has come to the point that the children will see no love from their mother unless they are playing soccer. To put it into perspective, soccer dominates Nanny's thoughts more than the physics and Communism combined dominate my thoughts. When I ask Gabby "what do you think about soccer?" the response is usually "its alright." If I ask Nanny what Gabby thinks about soccer, the response is always "Ohh my gawwd, soccer is amazing. Gabby is clearly the best one on the team and I just know that she's going to be someone important when she grows up" (que the tears). I have seen Gabby play; slightly below average. Similar case with the other child, yet he is still in the early fanaticism with the sport. Soon he shall grow to resent the sport as a result from the constant pushing to run around and kick a ball to make mommy happy. I feel bad for those two, I truly do.

I would talk about my mom and grandparents now, but I grow tired. They are for another day.