Family Visits

My father has been ill of late. I am going out to visit. Some bacterial infection that is going around.

I have to get myself together before I go, even though this is one of those weekends where I don’t want to care. I have to, because if I visit and my sister-in-law is there, and I am looking like death-warmed-over, she will conveniently feel the need for a family photo and post it on the internet. If I look like I’m wearing a bare minimum of makeup and my clothes are more put-together, even a little bit, she will conveniently NOT take a photo.

Not being able to have that sort of emotional trust in a family is hard and wears you out. But I’ve never been able to have it. Someone has always been shitty in some form or fashion. And it is one of those things that people say is supposed to just be a thing family does.

Maybe the “things family does” are why your relatives keep away from you. Maybe they had enough years ago.