 The Big Warcraft Debate
It was a day for firsts. I met Stephen’s girlfriend Allison for the first time. I met Ian’s wife Sabrina for the first time. And in the evening, we sat and watched Supersize Me for the first time. I suppose that this is not your typical evening viewing fare.
In addition to the 15 of us, there were three dogs joining in the fun: my mother’s Pomeranian mix, my sister’s terrier mix, and Allison’s little pug dog. Now I know why they call it the Family Circus.
Of course, we stuffed ourselves all afternoon with picnic and cook-out food. The dogs were spoiled rotten with expensive Hoffman’s franks. The human conversation was interspersed with dog snarling. Before we put the DVD on, my sons and nephews started talking about Warcraft and tried to recruit Dan into joining their online games. Sabrina and I sat, looked at each other, yawned and rolled our eyes. Luckily for Allison, she had departed by this time. In a household where the testosterone outnumbers the oestrogen 2 to 1, you have to learn to cope and the women stick together. The afternoon turned to evening, and the eating was ongoing. We talked about video games and watched Orwell Rolls in His Grave as well as a New Age video (What the Bleep Do We Know) that my son Chris wanted us to see. We like discussing the nature of god and the nature of self. Our beliefs are varied, but they are treated with respect. We get very animated and excited when talking about our spiritual sides. When I think of it, we’re a weird family. By 11pm, we were pretty much video’d out. Andy hovered in the background and sat at my mother’s PC with a computer game and headphones on. Chris drove himself home. Dan took Stephen back to Allison’s parents’ house. I helped clean up. The kitchen quickly went from looking like vandals hit it, to a tidy little New England farm kitchen, which it pretty much is.
When Dan got back, we had to run Ian and Sabrina to a hotel. That was a little wedding present from me. A two-day honeymoon in Connecticut with your parents around! Dan eventually retired back to my mother’s bedroom and I settled back into the sofa bed, looking forwards to a good night’s sleep. Everyone was here, safe and sound. The day was a huge success. I was exhausted. And then, at 4 am, my sister’s dog, who was caged up in the basement with my mother's little Pomeranian, started to whine. At 5 am, he was still whining. I know, because I was awake for all of it. By 6:30 am, I gave up and got up for the day. The reunion was starting to feel like The Quest for Sleep. (To be continued...)
|
posted by Melanie O. at 
