2023-04-30 When family falls far too short

Sun 30 Apr 2023 07:15:27 AM CDT

My family - the one I was born into and grew up with - are all idiots. Zero capacity for nuance. Everything you say to them must pertain to obvious physical realities literally directly in front of them or there will be a whole lotta duh going on, generally leading to dramatic displays of judgement indistinguishable from what we call "canceling" these days. Anyone half a braincell smarter than them is a threat to be both kept at a distance, and watched very carefully.

My mom passed in 2002, so it's just my dad, two siblings, and I. I'm quickly their favorite punching bag.

Yesterday the excuses for throwing punches were:

1) My explaining my religious history and current beliefs in response to a sister-in-laws questions about them. My inability to simply mutter "I'm Catholic" (see also: The Right Answer) led to all manner of eye-rolling, verbal swipes at concepts they don't and can't understand, and remaining the butt of related jokes the rest of the evening.

2) My sister (two years younger than I) recalling a time when I was 22, and she called me somewhat injured from a Halloween party somewhere on campus, and I apparently told her to call my dad, and then hung up. That was over 40 years ago. But she clearly thinks I should still be wandering around in sackcloth and ashes over it, and my dad shook his head as though I were too evil to be in his presence. Because *obviously* 62-year-old me is the same person as 22-year-old me....

My brother is roughly as brain-dead as dad/sis, but at least can be light-hearted and create quite clever humor with respect to things he doesn't fully understand.

But dad/sis... last night was quite possibly the last time I'll interact with them. There's far too little gain for the effort, and my runway is falling away from under my feet with palpable haste....

textmonger