My Family Tree Is Fulla Nuts!

So, where the heck have I been? Well, I just got back from a week+ vacation to see my family in northern California where I grew up so I am going to use that as an excuse, but really I have just been suffering from a seemingly interminable case of writer's block. I am pretty sure that the case is not solved either, so if this post comes out like a random stream of anti-thought, I should not be held responsible. Because of said vacation, I do have quite a few ideas floating around in my head, but none of them seem to want to stick to the metaphorical paper. But one thing I did learn while on my vacation is that all families are crazy.

Really. Isn't yours? See, I am right!

I cannot write in specifics about what it was that drew me to this conclusion without being ostracized for the next five to ten years. Although the collective memory of my clan will eventually morph every family story into something that resembles truth only in some parallel universe entirely populated with fishermen, so I am probably safe. Which brings us back to the crazy part. There is no single thing that makes me think my family is crazy, but rather a culmination of many hours spent reminiscing about old times, and comparing seemingly unrelated childhoods. Yes, it is true, while my brother, sister and I were raised in the same home, we apparently lived completely separate lives. I offer as example...

"Oh! Remember when we used to come here all the time when we were kids?"

"I've never been here."

"Remember when Jimmy fell off this swing and broke his arm?"

"That was Sally and she broke her ankle, and it was a different park."

"What?! None of you ever broke anything."

"Remember when Uncle Dan used to always bake us those yummy snickerdoodles?"

"We have an Uncle Dan?"

It does make these reunions more interesting. It is like reliving a whole bunch of stuff that you must not have remembered quite right and that now you are not sure happened at all, but you look so much like these people that you have to assume you found the right house. And in the end, I reluctantly admit that I am at least one nut that did not fall far from the tree, and MAN do we have a good time!

Quote of the Day: "If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright'."

--Jeff Foxworthy