Helping Conway, SC Tell Its Story

If anybody ever tells you that living in a family is easy, just go on and slap them because they deserve it for spewing that ridiculousness. Living in a family is one of the hardest and best things that will ever happen to a person. It can feel like a certified three ring circus. It’s like the deep fried version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

There are crazy times. Like when you are

16 and talking on the phone to your first boyfriend in the closet because privacy doesn’t exist in a house with so many people. Then there seems to be an echo when you talk, so you start looking around and realize that your little brother has put a microphone in a shoe and is broadcasting your convo to the entire household. (True Story) Or when you wake up with your six-year-old cousin’s little stinky foot in your nose and her impossibly tiny, big eyed, evil-Chihuahua snarling at you from your pillow where he now sits. (Also a true story)

There are sad times. Like when somebody gets dumped and needs a chick flick, some chocolate and new pajamas or a family member passes away and we all need to cry and laugh and remember.

Then there are the times when you want to strangle someone. Like when you need to get a bath but “that” family member has used up every bit of the hot water in the 80 gallon yes, 80 gallon, tank.  Lordy, she only weighs 102 dripping wet! What is she washing anyway?!-Her soul? Then there is the time someone washes your best sweater with their hunting clothes so it comes out smelling like “dirt” scented laundry soap and you walk around smelling like a giant pile of leaves.  (How could this stuff be made up?)

There are the embarrassing times. Like when the family informs your boyfriend how much of a slob you are or your cousin tells the entire Church softball team that you hang your bra from the ceiling fan. (It wasn’t the fan...please...it was the treadmill for crying out loud). Then your sister gets in a fight with an Aunt at your Great Grandfather’s funeral about the middle-east.

There’s also the continual fight over the washing machine, the last can of tuna, the bathroom, and the TV. A thousand people come in and out all day long. The refrigerator door is on an endless swing and there is never enough ketchup.  Sometimes there isn’t a room in the house that doesn’t have somebody occupying it in some capacity. Everybody is in each other’s business and yet no one seems to remember anything. Only a heavy metal concert can come close to the noise levels. No one does anything the same way twice and you can’t ever find your clothes/purse/keys/shoes/etc.

And you can FORGET privacy. No one knocks and somebody is always naked.  But on the flip side, you are never bored. When you’re sad, there are people to talk to. Laugh with. Eat with.

Yes, living in a family is hard. Everybody from the baby to the grandparent is growing up in some way and it’s an ever evolving process of trying to make sure everyone feels respected, loved, and important. It’s a heck of a ride, this life. And at the end of the day your family is still your family no matter if they’re bald, skinny, loud, clumsy, childlike, zany or crazy. They come in all sorts of packages with all sorts of ideas and problems. But love puts on her big girl pants and moves over to include them all because...quite simply...life would suck without them.

• < Prev
• Next >