It’s a shame that so many families live far from one another. These days, it often takes a funeral or a Family Gathering to get folks together, up close and personal.

Often, too close, kind of “in your face”.

I mean, where else would you learn whether or not your cousin eats like a truck driver? (Sorry, truck drivers, I didn’t want to say “eats like a pig”….)

Where else would you discover that you are going to be a juvenile delinquent by age 16 if you do not have a declared college major, or, if your people came from the Old Country (whichever Old Country it was, they are all eerily about the same in these matters), that you will die an old maid if not married off by age 20 or so…?

It’s Family, people, family—over-interested, over-invested spectators into the window of your life, that in their estimation is somehow lacking and somehow not living up to their expectations. Forget about what you want, lol.

In a way, the meddling grandparents, along with aunts and uncles only too willing to compare you to their dear ones, did tend to put a fire under slacking youngsters who were not progressing along at a steady clip in any type of goals, whether theirs or someone else’s hopes and dreams. However, nowadays, relatives often live far away and Skype bedtime stories. If questions become too intrusive as kids move into their mid- and late-teens, there’s always the excuse of jobs and extracurriculars for why they can’t “talk” with Grandma and Grandpa. Not to mention that the internet may mysteriously quit in the middle of a sticky conversation!

So Thanksgiving will soon be upon us and we will need to review what to expect and how to interact with relatives. Stay tuned… as we “talk turkey”.

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