families

Charlie's post made me think about my own family and our traditions and more obviously, our quirks. My family seems relatively "normal" to people who have just met us. But, each and every member of my family is totally bizarre in their own way. 

Also, everyone has started to get excited about going home to see their families or their parents coming up to school this weekend. Well, my parents aren't coming because they have just started to truly enjoy their "empty nest." I have two older siblings, a sister in grad school and a brother still in college. This is their first year with no children at home and I am sad to say that they are loving it. I usually call my mom about once or twice a week to complain about work or to tell her something really exciting that happened. Now, when I call home, she screens my calls! She'll call me back the next day from work, saying that she and my dad were too busy out to dinner, or swimming in Lake Michigan or at a movie. Since when do my nerdy parents go out?? I, obviously, have not taken their newfound social life very well, but I didn't think my very "normal" and nerdy and lame parents would ever start going out again. They always seemed happy as homebodies. My dad likes watching The Office on t.v. and my mom does yoga tapes in the basement. Now, all of their oddities seem totally weird. I feel as though they changed with all their going out and traveling. And, their reason for not coming to SLU for parent's weekend is that it is my mom's 56th birthday and she wants to do something FUN. She says SLU is too boring and isolated to spend her birthday weekend here. Ouch. My own mother just denied me.