When people turn on the television to one of those popular nineties TV shows, possibly Roseanne or Full House, the audience is greeted with a surprisingly realistic take on family relationships. In Roseanne, for example, the family was constantly dealing with financial issues, sibling rivalries, and rocky adult romances. Full House slightly cushioned the sometimes dark aspects of family life by adding a pair of cute twins, and a decade full of hugs. However, speaking from personal experience, issues aren’t always resolved with a joke, and sappy music filling the background.
My sister and I are extremely close in age; we not only have to share a house, but also a school, makeup, and the occasional pair of jeans. I am very thankful for some of our differences: for example, we have extremely different taste in guys. Phew. Another thing, she is very interested in team sports, and that’s just not my forte. Her and my brother seem to get along oddly well, sometimes double teaming me, forming this weird posy of red-heads that dominate the house-hold. My family’s past includes my aunt and uncle, who died of drug overdose two weeks apart from eachother, leaving two children, Kenny and Jenny, behind. Jenny became addicted to everything, and while Kenny rebelled and was a frequent smoker, drinker, and Juvi resident, he has managed to overcome a lot in these past fifteen years: he just had a baby girl with his girlfriend, Lucy, who is adorable.
My grandparents on my dad’s side are old-fashioned, the fake blonde with the long nails and the strict marine. My grandparents on my mother’s side are hippies: they in the woods of Orinda, and are extremely kind-hearted. My aunt Tiffany had a questionable past, but now she just had a baby, and has the most genuine of boyfriends. My great-grandma Nonie loves talking about her alcoholic past, her abortions, and all matters of nonsense: she just turned 87, but you’d never guess it. And of course, my Mom and Dad, now divorced, have always been my rock. We are all very close, meeting together every Sunday night for dinner, all sixteen of us. But we are hardly traditional; yes, we have the typical holiday celebrations, filled with love and war, but we as individuals are so different. We truly are a random group of people, but with one similar belief: that it’s family that matters.
Nice sketch of your whole crew. This writing has a lot of character. You make it sound like you have lots and lots of stories to tell (or retell, as the case may be).
ReplyDeleteMy one thing is, I thought this was going to be about TV shows when it started. So getting from the intro into the body needed more of a transition somehow, or that moment between the first and second paragraphs might be a bit confusing.