May 10, 2010
Mother’s Day (column 4- xtra cred)
All 28 family members spent Mother’s Day at the grandparents’ house which is still in New Territory like the rest of us. No one brought food like the regular family gatherings because this one seemed to be more impromptu.
We usually all gather at Willy’s restaurant in New territory for family outings. It’s close and can easily accommodate such a large group, but I think this time everyone just kind of showed up at Grandma’s house on their own.
All family gatherings are different with a different atmosphere and feel to them. Some are very chaotic while some are very calm and seem like there’s nothing to it. That’s how Mother’s Day was, very calm and almost serene. There was no chaos, no drama like usual which is to be expected when that many family members gather.
Because my back has been hurting this semester I have only seen the family on holidays, so the last time I say anyone was at Easter. A weird tension seemed to be in the room during Easter, or at least between my birth-father, my sister and me.
Before my back started hurting again I used to go over to their house every week. We would have dinner and talk about things that were going on in each other’s lives and we had a favorite TV show, Survivor, that we would always watch together.
But, since my back I haven’t gone over to their house to watch Survivor and I think I hurt their feelings. I would text them and Facebook them to tell them about my back, but until they actually saw me at Easter and saw how much pain I was in, I don’t think they really understood. At Easter, they almost froze me out. They didn’t hug me and hardly spoke with me and my birth-father didn’t even look at me.
Mother’s Day was different. They seemed to understand why I hadn’t been able to come by to watch our show, but I guess what they didn’t know was that i was watching it on my own so I would still have that bond with them.
I started out talking with my little sister about what was going on with the show. She and I laughed and anticipated what future episodes would bring. Before long our dad sat down at the table with us and so did the step-mom and they joined in the conversation. We were all laughing and strategizing and questioning the show, just like we would had I been at their house watching.
All the laughter and conversation inevitably turned to harassing my little sister because like everyone said that’s what big sisters do. We also discussed our christmas wishes for this year suggesting to our dad that we wanted and iPad.
Our grandmother got one for Mother’s Day which is what sparked the conversation. Heather mentioned she wanted one and then I said that’s what I was going to ask for. Heather then turned to dad and said he would have to buy two. He laughed and said it looked that way, but then I reminded him that he has three other children and would probably have to buy five. He laughed again in agreement and then said it would actually have to be six, one for our step-mom and one for my mom too. We suggested he see if he could get a bulk rate from the Apple Company, you know, “cheaper by the dozen”.
I actually had already told my mom to suggest to my birth-father to get me an IPad for Christmas, he really likes giving electronic gifts. He always has trouble finding things for me, I’m not really into that much electronic stuff and he doesn’t like giving the girly gifts. He wants to be sure we know the gift is from him and was picked out by him not pawned off onto a mom like most dad’s do.
So I had the best time that afternoon with my dad. He hugged me, he looked at me and bantered with me. It was great. My little brother even kept bugging him to leave because he was bored (he doesn’t watch Survivor with us) but he kept saying no because he wanted to keep talking with me. (My mom point those little things out to me because I’m so immersed in the time I’m spending with him that I miss little things like that.)
Even though Mother’s Day is supposed to be for mom, I still had a great time with my dad.
