My family came over yesterday to celebrate both my and cousin A�s birthdays. Usually, when we have family gatherings, I have some kind of incredible story to tell, but yesterday was unusually tame. Unfortunately, the lack of excitement did not mean that everyone was happy and carefree.
My grandfather couldn�t make it again because he�s still sick. His sickness is starting to really worry me, despite what my mother and grandmother say. They keep saying that it�s only a cold, but it seems so much worse. I plan on stopping by sometime this week to see how he really is.
Anyway, he didn�t come, so that left only my mother, Aunt C, Cousin A, my grandmother, and me. My stepfather had left for some club thing of his only an hour earlier. The moment everyone arrived, it was like a veil of silence befell us all. I mean, even Cousin A was unnaturally quiet.
Of course, my cousin and aunt�s manners didn�t improve. The moment they walked in they asked where the food was. After eating, we sat around and opened presents, which consisted of me opening a package that contained the Capri pants that had been sitting in my room for a week, and Cousin A shaking open his cards for his money. Then, Cousin A started bugging Aunt C to give him enough money to buy a portable basketball hoop as well as two video games that he wanted to buy. My aunt doesn�t have very much money and my cousin gets, basically, everything he wants, so I knew that this conversation was going to end in a screaming match.
My aunt and mother went outside for a smoke and Cousin A followed them outside to kick his soccer ball around. However, Cousin A has absolutely no respect for anyone or anyone�s property, so he started to kick the ball so it would bounce off the house�extremely close to the windows. My mother, of course, told him to stop, and he, of course, smiled and kept it up. Then he tried to bait me into some kind of fight or argument by first saying that I probably didn�t play any sports, then when I answered that I know kickboxing, trying to bait me to literally fight him. When I said no, my aunt seemed to get mad.
After we came back inside, he was still trying to start an argument by hitting people with one of my cat�s toys. Then he kept whining about wanting to play a board game. Unfortunately, we barely have any that even I find entertaining, and my mom didn�t want him dragging things out of the basement and upstairs, so she said no. Cousin A started whining again about his basketball hoop. My aunt yelled at him and told him that they were leaving.
They were here for a total of an hour and a half. My mother slaved over the meal, which took over eight hours to cook, not to mention all of the cleaning that we needed to do. I�m beginning to wonder why we even do this anymore. My aunt seems to hate both me and my mother, and Cousin A literally tries to upset people.
I found out later that a few times while my mother and aunt were outside smoking, my aunt tried to start something with my mother. First, she made snotty comments about my mother helping me pay for my most recent car repairs. That�s not even her business, not to mention if she�d back off her high horse for just a moment, she would have heard my mother say that I�m paying her back when I start work next week. It�s not like Cousin A doesn�t get everything that he wants under the sun. Second, she started bitching because she had to smoke outside. It�s not like it�s the middle of winter and um�..the last time I noticed my stepfather and I live here, not her. I, personally, don�t want to be sick because she needs to suck down tar every fifteen minutes.
I don�t know why she needs to start crap with my mother every time we�re together. We are not in competition. She needs to spend that energy teaching her son to be respectful of other people. Every family gathering does not need to be about entertaining Cousin A. When I was younger, I brought a book or CD. I let the adults talk to each other, I didn�t try to bait them into yelling at me. He is exactly the reason why no one wants to have family gatherings anymore.
It�s only going to get worse when he�s older too. She�s one of those parents who makes excuses for her child. For example, when he gets a bad grade, she tells him that it�s the teacher�s fault. When she calls him in sick from school, she skips work, and they go see a movie. What�s going to happen when he starts working? Is his mommy going to call him in? That is, of course, if he ever actually has to work�his mother buys him everything that he wants.
Ugh�.I swear that it�s parents like that that make me never want to have children.
