I love my family. As individuals, they are delightful, young and old. However, when my family comes together for a reunion, things have traditionally broken down. We're a highly sensitive bunch, so there can be a lot of hurt feelings, latent hostility and ISSUES just ready to rise to the surface. At our last family reunion, we had a couple of family members running crying into the forest. We'd be a good cast for a Woody Allen film.
OK here's some family reunion advice. I'd love to have more:
1) Have some kind of escape vehicule. Never go to a family reunion without a functioning car.
2) Before you go, tell your family how busy you are. Bring your laptop in case you need to hide somewhere and "work".
3) Bring medication.
4) Bring alcohol.
5) Go to your happy place.
6) Make sure your sleeping quarters will be in a room with a door that closes. If it's not, check yourself into the nearest motel.
7) Compile a list of relaxation techniques before you go.
8) Imagine you are Buddhist.
9) Present yourself to your family as an exercise freak and go for long runs.
10) Make a post-reunion appointment with your therapist.
1 comment:
OK, I've been thinking about this for awhile. I've really never been to an official family reunion. But thinking about past family gatherings, I can add this bit of advice: NEVER bring your children, if you know your adult relatives tend to ACT like children. One of my relatives pulled a big temper tantrum with my son (adult was 60, son was 4, adult was screaming for control of the channel clicker, son was crying and trembling). That's the last time that adult has ever been allowed the privilege of visiting my son.
So I guess the moral of the story is: don't pass on the family reunion neurosis to the next generation, wherever possible.
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