I got really lucky with some parts of my family

[schneefink]

My little brother sometimes gives great quotes, and I always tell myself I'll write them down for some future use. (Maybe his wedding. Our cousin's brother did something like that and it was great.) Usually I forget and regret it bitterly later, but not this time! Some recent LB quotes:

"Mozart was already dead at the time of Creation."
Tbf we were talking about Haydn.

"Two violas playing together is a faux pas."
- when I asked about the composition of string quartets

To my mom's question of who was Alan Turing: "He built the first bombs."
Technically not true, the Polish did it first. The name of this cryptography device means bomb in German, I have no idea why they used the German word in English instead of translating it.

We also have a new secret code in case one of us is taken over by an alien. It's utterly nonsensical and neither of us remembers how we came up with it, but it's fun. I can't tell you, of course, because then it wouldn't be useful anymore in case one of us is taken over by an alien. (Of course it only works if the alien in question doesn't have access to our memories. Yeerks are scary.)


In less pleasant family news, I wrote to my aunt that I argued with over the phone, then replied to her again, and now she wrote back that she doesn't want to talk to me anymore (and she cc'd my parents "so that there are no misunderstandings.") I'm surprised and disappointed by her reactions, because I thought we got along well and she was one of my favorite aunts. But apparently she saw it differently, apparently according to her we were in a relationship where I'm not ever allowed to show it when I'm not in a good mood. I don't understand her interpretations of my actions unless she deliberately tries to find the worst possible angle. We must have very different views of how communication works, especially communication in a family. I'm also really angry about some things she said/wrote, and I'm almost disappointed that she said she's cutting future communications because that means I can't do it myself. This will make the next family reunion very awkward (also because she's much closer to the rest of my dad's siblings than my dad or I), but right now I don't care.

Comments

[jae]

I cannot believe your aunt! I have a hard time imagining why someone would do that to a random acquaintance; I really can't understand how it would happen with a close family member. I'm really sorry. :(

-J

[schneefink]

Thanks. Maybe I'll feel more forgiving in a few days: I know I sometimes come across more abrasive than I intended, and I know she's stressed at the moment. But at this point she's way out of line even if I did accept her interpretation of the original event she complained about.

[jae]

To me the thing is this: even if the original fight was 100% your fault, you were trying to make amends. You don't push a family member out of your life entirely for being abrasive. You just don't.

-J