Anybody else travel somewhere for the holidays and now just tired of family and friends?

I went "home" to the town I grew up in (Tallahassee, FL), am staying at my dad's (he's out of town) visiting with my mom and a few other friends.  Dad's dog (10 lbs ) wants to fight with my dog (60 lbs), my dog fell in his pool, there's nothing to eat here, don't know the feeding/walking schedule for his dog, their house is like a cluttered museum, and the bed is uncomfortable.  That was just the first night.
Then comes all the friends and family that want to monopolize your time.  "Come see me".  "How come you're not spending time at our house". "you haven't seen the kids yet".  "Why haven't you come to look at the new house".  and on and on.  How come is it that I have to drive 6 freakin hours to see YOU?  The road don't go both ways?  You can't ever come see me?  If it was so goddamn important for us to see each other, wouldn't you make the effort at least 50% of the time?
Then there's this town.  I swear to god, nobody here drives more than 5 mph over the speedlimit.  Ever.  You go 10 over and they look at you like you're Evel Kneivel.  15 over and they start taking shots at you.  They think the hip new club in town is actually hip and new, not like South Beach 10 years ago, which is in fact what it is like.  It's cold (for me) and the weather people seem to be completely incapable of predicting that.  Not to mention it will go from 35 to 70 in the same day.  What the hell is the point in that?  And just how the fuck do you dress for it?

So, tomorrow, I get to trundle my dog & myself back into the truck, stop by mom's house for an hour to say the freakin goodbyes, and drive the 6 (if I'm lucky) hours back to Ft. Lauderdale.  At which point I get to find new homes for the useless garbage that I got as gifts, wash all the layers of clothes I've had to wear, wait for the dog to settle down, and try to actually relax for one day before going back to work on Monday.
Next time I take a vacation, I'm buying a case of beer, renting a ton of video games, sending the dog to the kennel, ordering out for hookers every night, and sitting around the house drunk in my boxers eating pizza.

Understand totally! [wave]

My parents (specifically my mom) insisted on moving just about as far away from her relatives (and my dads) as possible.  They settled in California after he retired from the Navy.  The families are mostly in Illinois and Oklahoma.

I’m in still in California (for awhile longer) and can’t say that I have really missed the contact.

As the saying goes “you can pick your friends, you can’t pick your family”.

I thought the saying was: You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't wipe your friends on the couch.  :)

Norm, you sure do bitch a lot.

Life is short. Enjoy it.

And that is exactly my point.  I do enjoy it most of the time.  It's these relationships we have with "family" that (in this case) directly effect that enjoyment.  These obligations that we feel to appease these people.  Friends we see once a year at best, family that puts demands on our time....

You hear all the time "if you really loved your family, you'd enjoy spending time with them".  Well, how about "if they really loved you, they'd know that you have a life besides them"?

Yeah, so what's your point? [;D]




[devil]

Decenber 24th isn't Christmas Eve to me. It's been the day I arrived in Vietnam for the past 31 years. I don't mind the driving so much....

What the hell did you even go for?
My theory is let them come to me and they can go stay in a hotel.
Needless to say when my wife and daughter leave to go to her parents house, it gets rerally nice and quiet around here.

[>(] [>(] [>(] [>(] [>(]


There...we're even...for the Milsurp bash you had for me.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

It's only a couple of days out of your busy year, enjoy it while your parents are still alive.

I wasn't aware that we were keeping score, or what milsurp bash you're referring to.

Thank you.


You're right, and that's exactly what I've been telling myself.  One would hope, however, that said parents also learn to appreciate the 8 hours one way and 9 hours back that one spends in the car simply to come see them.