Parents be Good to Your Children

I am in the middle of getting ready for a trial that starts tomorrow. This means that I have been working 14-16 hour days, 7 days a week for the last couple of weeks. So, imagine my surprise and delight when I got an email from my grandmother this morning. But, of course, I have such a wonderfully dysfunctional family. This is what it said:

Malina,

I have found that you love to treat your mother and me very poorly. You seem to prefer your father and his ugly wife. She is not only ugly outside but inside as well. It has been nearly a year and I have yet to get a picture of your wedding. I now know that you do not plan to let me have one. I am tired of playing your ugly games. You send me the cheapest gift you can find at Christmas which is a small box of pears. I don't even like pears and they have spoiled both years you have sent them. You have become a constant liar like your father! That is the thanks we get for being the responsible ones. We were the ones (your mother and I) who stepped up to the plate and raised you. Your father was too busy running around with other women and he was not to be trusted with small children. He was not interested anyway. He grew up in a dysfunctional family. What is your excuse? Your friends in Delaware have noticed your disfunction and mentioned them to us when we were there for your wedding! It must be inherited. Thank God your sister has not been around your father most of her life.

Your Grandmother

Thanks, Grandma. I don't really know much about my parents' dysfunctional marriage and subsequent divorce. But I do know that the bit about my father not being around or being trusted is revisionist history. The most important thing, though, is that the above is the exact reason I prefer not to interact with my mother's side of the family. All they do is complain and criticize me. Talking to my dad and his ugly wife is so much less painful! They don't yell at me or accuse me of having bad genes. They just ask me how my life is going and tell me about theirs.

So I guess the moral of the story is.... do unto others as you would have done unto you.

Amen.

P.S. I don't care what she says, I LOVE Harry & David's Royal Riviera pears. MMMMMM. This year, I'm keeping hers for myself.