Yup. J and I had to attend a family wedding last night.It's been a long time since I've sat down with my family and, unfortunately, I was brutally reminded why last night.
It's the typical Jewish wedding complete with Chupa and Hora. The Bride and Groom are lovely, young, exceedingly gracious and full of impatience to begin their new lives.... The Groom's friends, slap each other on the back laughing loudly at memories of times gone by (usually things that happened a mere month or so ago). The Bride's friends, looking like cookie cutter images of one another, fuss over the Bride's meringue dress and coiffed hair. The family take every opportunity to enjoy the mediocre quality food and dance to the poor schleps who have been hired to play covers of bad 80's disco (that's redundant, isn't it... Sorry) during the meal.
Now there's an extremely thankless job, if you ask me, to watch other people eat while you try in vain to amuse them and then watch as a phenomenal number of them display their lack of rhythm.
My young cousins, the ones actually getting married, were lovely, gracious and happy. Mazeltov to them both.
The people J and I sat with... That's another story. My Uncles and Aunts... People I do not particularly get along with. They can be among the rudest, loudest and shallowest people in the room. My mom was clearly the black sheep of the family and for that I am eternally grateful. I tend to get very quiet in their presence and, I suspect, they believe I'm being aloof. I'm not trying to be aloof. I just have nothing to say to them. My small talk sucks and there's no chance of entering more profound conversation since we hold diametrically opposed political views. (When this has been attempted, I assure you, tempers flared.)
My mom is currently dealing with a not-so-little disagreement that has been ravaging these family relationships for the past 4 years. I know the details and I'm afraid, in this instance I've decided not to be the peacekeeper that she is. I told her that if one of them said just one little insensitive thing last night, my plan was to verbally annihilate them. Though I'm younger than the youngest Uncle by 11 years, I usually behave like the grownup and keep my opinions to myself... Not any more. The behaviours last night, though quiet (for a change), exemplified why I don't choose to hang out with my family. What wasn't spoken was often louder and more in your face than what was. While I'm thankful that they kept their mean spirited comments to themselves, rendering my little plan for open verbal hunting unnecessary, it was still rather astonishing to see little civilities ignored. It was so silly (Truly there was no better word for it... Silly)! My Uncle E snubbed my simple 'hello' and then darted me a look of anger when my Father moved to sit beside me gently pushing aside my Aunt L, E's wife. I feigned astonishment. Such a small thing... Such powers of offence.
It's true. You can't pick your family. You can, however, choose who you hang out with. Thank the deity of your choice for that.
J and I sat quietly, mused to ourselves about the Barnum and Bailey nature of the event, ate, and then made a quiet and quick escape.
I really needed something light this morning. Thank you immensely, P, for the lovely pick me up from your Blog...
Go here and look through random quotes until you find 5 that you think reflect who you are or what you believe. Repost in your journal and see if anyone else wants to play. (You may need to refresh a few times to find enough.)
Here are mine, guys (Remember that they may be tempered by how I'm feeling about last night's events):
