Family Matters

Today, I went to a family reunion for my mom's dad's side of the family. I think there were about 50 people total (not the highest count for one of our reunions, but not bad). Most of it was my grandpa's legacy, as there were 26 from his branch alone, out of several siblings, and not all of us were even there.

There were burgers (veggie burgers for mom and I), brats, macaroni salad, pickles, green beans, baked beans, wild rice hotdish, goulash (pretty much the only thing my grandpa makes), and desserts and chips galore. My aunt works for Frito Lay, so she always has chips. Always. Which means, unfortunately, that we always have chips. We had 4 bags of chips left over from our 3rd of July Party. God, Doritos are addicting. Literally. The MSG that they put in chips and other salty snacks and foods tricks your body into thinking it needs MSG, which causes you to crave more chips and thus buy more chips. I had kicked the chip addiction until last month. Now every time I smell doritos, I really really really want to eat them. There are still 2 bags of potato chips left in the closet, which are really really really tempting... But I can say no, and should say no. I will bring them to my birthday party so I don't eat them all.

There was volleyball and water balloons, a scavanger hunt and a playground. Lots of games and of course lots of talking. I didn't interact too much with anyone outside my branch of the family. Funny how that works, huh? At a family reunion, you don't talk with the people you haven't seen in years or ever, you talk with the people you're going to see again on Wednesday.

My grandma, who lives just a short distance from the park where the reunion was held, scooted down here on her electric scooter. She almost hit my uncle and me on accident. She is in poor health, though, and was out of breath by the time she got to the park. One wouldn't think that scootering takes any effort, but if you have COPD I guess it does. Grandpa walked with her to make sure she got there safely, then walked home, and drove back with the goulash. The drove home again to clean the kitchen. Then drove back, hung out with his nephew by the cars, then drove home again, leaving the goulash and grandma there. My aunt and cousin, who live down the street from them, walked her home with the crock pot. Her scooter left them running after her. She didn't slow down though. She's not very compassionate.

When she left, though, she left a birthday card with another aunt. Inside was a card, and 2 envelopes. One for my cousin, her son, and one for me, each with $50 inside. She asked my cousin and aunt to come clean the house once a month for her. But after the first time, they were unable to, and so the job went to me, but when my brother and I were going to go over there, she said she had no idea what we were talking about and no, we shouldn't come over to clean. Apparently, she felt bad or something because I just got paid $50 for doing absolutely nothing. My cousin got paid a second time, in cash, because he never cashed the first check because he thought $50 was too high, and it annoyed her so she paid him cash. Wow, do I feel guilty. I don't deserve this money, even though I need it. It's like finding a bag of money on the sidewalk when your house is being foreclosed on. Do you keep it? Do you turn it in? I'm struggling between honor and pride vs. need, as well as struggling between my grandma's pride (not to be confused with generosity. As I said, she has no compassion) vs. my pride. I'm kind of thinking that since my pride is against two formidable foes at once, my pride's going to lose. But my guilt is telling me that Grandma will get a really nice Christmas present, which mollifies my pride somewhat.

Hm...