Family.
Well, thats all I have to say about that. No.. there is more. Family is difficult and irritating and sometimes you have kids you want to lock in a room by themselves forever, but family matters and you love them no matter what.
Or you tolerate them.
I tolerate quite a bit. I’ve discovered strategies to make it work. I don’t quite understand how they tolerate each other. The part that gets me is the seething anger that is beneath the surface in some interactions and the deep happiness that serves as the foundation for others.
I’m thinking about these things near xmas as I am falling deeper into my partners family while I watch my kids enjoy the relationships I left behind in my former marriage. It is a very odd thing knowing that your kids have a family that you are not a part of in any way, shape, or form and to know that the family you left behind has hate for you and likely efforts to transmit that hate through your kids
Christmas.
Family.
The whole thing is difficult.