THAT Family

I've been part of THAT family since birth. Sometimes it's a bad thing (such as when my mom had to move and restart her life thanks to my dad's horrible reputation in her hometown) and sometimes it's a good thing (such as when people roll their eyes because yet another miracle has fallen into our laps).

It's not always easy being in THAT family. We can't get together without a fight or argument breaking out, we have to screen and schedule visits to ensure that no one runs into or is subjected to the wrong person, and everyone is way too into everyone else's business. There's also a good dose of "why us" running rampant in my family. Why was our dad a screw up? Why was my sister born sick? Why does my other sister grapple with mental illness? Why has our mom worked so hard her entire life and yet will continue working until she dies?

You get the picture. I've tried for the past several years to give up the "why us" whining and just enjoy that this is the life I live and this is the family I've got. We can't change each other (much) and if it came to a knife fight, mess with one of us girls and you'll have three others on your back. And we will shank you.

So I'm proud that my THAT family was featured at We Are THAT Family this week. I hope you'll go check it out and leave a comment either here or there to share your own THAT family story.

(And keep in mind there's only so many THAT family stories I could fit into the questions Kristen asks. I didn't even get into the deadbeat dad who recently moved back with his 2 pre-teen children that he thinks we should help raise and how he likes to brag to us about how amazingly smart they are -- as though they invented the wheel [and teen angst]. Guess what, loser. We were dying our hair and shaking up the scene when those kids were still a drug-induced dream. And there's how my husband was born on the side of a mountain. You know I can tell you some stories about that!)