Do you like to go to family reunions and gettogethers, if they’re a thing in your family?
My answer:
As I wrote in my answer to the last question, not really, as it’s very hard for me because of the anxiety and other mental health stuff, and not feeling the connection with most of my extended family. I will go to some of them mostly out of duty so that no one feels hurt and my conscience is not biting me, but if I have to be honest, no, I don’t like it, and if I can, I’ll avoid it. Smaller gatherings are a bit easier, as are those on my Mum’s family’s side as opposed to my Dad’s family with whom I feel totally like a changeling or a fifth wheel. My Mum’s family, even if they are a bit overwhelming at times, are interesting people so at least I can listen to their conversations which can often be absorbing, and they see me more for me than just my blindness, though also not fully.
How about you? 🙂
I’m with you–I find such events tedious and awkward and forced. However, in my case, the events aren’t happening anymore. When I was growing up, and up until several years ago, my maternal grandparents would host huge gatherings at their wonderful home. However, since they died, the gatherings no longer happen (to the best of my knowledge).
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That’s a good thing they no longer happen in your life, since your maternal family seems so toxic, and family gatherings can be incredibly awkward indeed.
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Amen!!
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I like to go to family reunions and/or family get togethers whenever my family has them. It’s been a while for me to attend a family reunion on my mom’s side because I think the last time we got together for anything on my maternal side of the family was my wedding and engagement back in 2016. Before that it was in 2015 when we went to India and we celebrated Dussehra in India with family. Many of the family on my mom’s got together for my nephew’s wedding in 2017 but I couldn’t attend because I had asked for the next weekend off since it was my sister’s PA school graduation. On my dad’s side of the family we try to regularly meet up for get togethers and family reunions or family parties.
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How nice that you’re so close with your family and enjoy relatively frequent family reunions. 🙂
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My family didn’t do reunions, or big gatherings in general. One of my great aunts used to do family dinners and there would be 10 people or so there. That side of the family was Lebanese, so it was always Lebanese food.
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I definitely feel like sometimes having less family gatherings, or even none, does have its upsides. If people aren’t genuinely close, no reunions will change it in my opinion.
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I agree.
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Yours truly is just reading about a Bosnian family reunion from a Melbourne author called Ennis Cehic.
They were riotous and full of a particular style of music called Sevdah which apparently reaches the Southern Slavonic soul.
The author expresses ambivalence and honesty. He confronts death and birth and everything in between.
Many of Cehic’s reunions go on in transit[ion] situations.
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Southern Slavs have really characteristic music indeed, though I don’t think I’d ever heard specifically of Sevdah before. Well yeah I’d think transitions can be a particularly favourable situation for family reunions, even if they’re not necessarily all positive transitions.
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I don’t know if I mentioned birth and death and weddings a few hours ago. Thinking of this film called “Sarajevo Wedding” in my youth or shortly afterwards.
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