A Bit of Crazy

My family is crazy. You might think I'm exaggerating, that all families have their eccentricities, but mine is crazy for real.

My brother and I have had a running joke for a little while now, and it goes, if we wanted to see if who we were dating really loved us, all we would have to do is introduce them to our family and see how long they last. If they make it through without running away screaming, then we are to marry them on the spot. Interestingly enough, my brother and I both have yet to bring anyone home to meet the family.

In all seriousness though, we depend on each other for our breath of normal in all of this craziness. Lately, my brother and I have grown closer now that we're bother older and reasonable again. Granted we still bicker and argue, that'll never change, but we always have the other when things get out of control crazy.

Sometimes though, I just wish it could be like it used to be. Just my mom, my brother, and I. All three of us fit well as a unit, but when you add the rest of my family, excluding my uncle, we fall apart because my mom feels she has to fix my family and control their craziness. It stresses her out so much that I wish she could just leave them all alone to their ridiculousness and relax.

Unfortunately, her sense of family responsibility won't let her. It's almost as if she doesn't have that switch of self-preservation when it comes to family. She lets them get to her and eat away at her and control her in a way that nothing else can. On the other hand because of this, my brother and I have adapted. Seeing the way my mom becomes around the rest of my family, Doug and I don't feel that same sense of familial obligation.

Mind you, we do still participate as a family, but we don't push our selves to give and do more than we feel is comfortable. My mother on the other hand will push herself to the limits and run herself ragged while the rest of the family walks all over her, taking everything she does for granted. Doug and I learned early on to close ourselves off before it even gets to that and just deal with the fallout later.

Sigh. Don't you just love families? Mine just seems to get crazier with age. And although I am no where near perfect or normal, I fear, that if I don't jump ship soon, they're going to make me just as crazy.