Another realization about my family
Dec. 24th, 2006 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasThis was brought on by the thing in the LAST story about how my Aunt Sue was going to swipe the duck from Mom, then give it back.
If she HAD done that, that would simply have been a normal part of how my Aunt Sue and my mother interact. They have this thing about stealing things from each other, then giving them back as presents. It's a game -- they try to see how large and obvious an object they can leave each other's house with -- and then see how long it takes the other person to notice.
And THAT led me to realize something else about my family, that's always been kicking around the back of my mind . . .
In order to understand my family, studying mythology kind of helps.
If a friend of mine is about to meet chunks of the rest of my family, I mention to them, "You have to understand this: I'm the normal one in my family."
It's not strictly true. My cousin Kate is probably actually the white sheep of the family. Even so, I think I'm more "normal" than at least half of us.
And I realized that my Aunt Sue is a trickster figure.
So's her husband John. Santa comes trooping into the room where we all were, someone says, "Santa, there's milk and cookies in the kitchen."
"Screw the milk -- where's the Jack?"
Sue and John sent out one of those holiday letters which tells you what their family did the last year:
It went on like that, telling how Lindsay had joined the circus as the bearded lady, Sue became an astronaut, and the dogs had learned to read.
And, like I said, Sue has this habit of stealing things from Mom, for fun.
Here's the kicker, for mythologically-minded people on my friends list: you want to know what Sue and John's job is? They test people for hearing loss, largely for OSHA compliance -- make sure that factory workers aren't losing hearing from loud machinery.
Not sound like a trickster type job? But think about it: their job is to test people's perceptions.
For what it's worth: Sue is also one of a pair of twins, the other being Ellen, who is an actress.
Some day, I'll try to figure out what archetypes other people in my family are.
If she HAD done that, that would simply have been a normal part of how my Aunt Sue and my mother interact. They have this thing about stealing things from each other, then giving them back as presents. It's a game -- they try to see how large and obvious an object they can leave each other's house with -- and then see how long it takes the other person to notice.
And THAT led me to realize something else about my family, that's always been kicking around the back of my mind . . .
In order to understand my family, studying mythology kind of helps.
If a friend of mine is about to meet chunks of the rest of my family, I mention to them, "You have to understand this: I'm the normal one in my family."
It's not strictly true. My cousin Kate is probably actually the white sheep of the family. Even so, I think I'm more "normal" than at least half of us.
And I realized that my Aunt Sue is a trickster figure.
So's her husband John. Santa comes trooping into the room where we all were, someone says, "Santa, there's milk and cookies in the kitchen."
"Screw the milk -- where's the Jack?"
Sue and John sent out one of those holiday letters which tells you what their family did the last year:
Happy Holidays Everyone. . . .
Well, what a year this has been.
2006 started out with a bang and never let up here at the Grant household.
The bang, of course, was back in January when Lindsay's fiance, Darren, got up late one night to use the outhouse. He lit a match to find the toilet paper roll in the dark, not realizing that John was also using the facility for propane storage.
Kablooeey, as they say. What a s****y mess that was, I'll tell you.
But we all had a good laugh over it, as you can imagine.
It went on like that, telling how Lindsay had joined the circus as the bearded lady, Sue became an astronaut, and the dogs had learned to read.
And, like I said, Sue has this habit of stealing things from Mom, for fun.
Here's the kicker, for mythologically-minded people on my friends list: you want to know what Sue and John's job is? They test people for hearing loss, largely for OSHA compliance -- make sure that factory workers aren't losing hearing from loud machinery.
Not sound like a trickster type job? But think about it: their job is to test people's perceptions.
For what it's worth: Sue is also one of a pair of twins, the other being Ellen, who is an actress.
Some day, I'll try to figure out what archetypes other people in my family are.
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Date: 2006-12-25 10:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-01 06:13 am (UTC)