Blood is thicker than water...
The holidays never seemed like that big of a deal growing up. That is not to say I didn’t enjoy the season each year with my family, but eventually you realize most people are putting on a grand show for others. I woke up one day seeing the world differently. It is not because of some traumatic childhood experience or some equally tragic adulthood experience. You learn to love your family without having to be around them all the time. I actually have always felt like the x-factor when it came to a happy holiday season. My views and opinions always seemed to upset someone around the dinner table. My lack of caring for the bullshit that most people spout about all year comes to a head in the latter months of the year. Then, I realized my life would make a really good TV show, so I started to write it all down. Halfway through my epic life story I took a break to watch some TV only to find that Netflix had already stole my essence. Well, I’d like to think it is the show I would have created given a big budget and lots of encouragement.
Have you watched Netflix’s original series Bloodline? Let me be the first to tell you that this show is one of the truest depictions of family ever put to the small screen. From episode one you are dropped into a story about a seemingly squeaky clean family that doesn’t just make you want to be apart of it, but also shows you why you left home in the first place. Don’t get me wrong not all have such an apparent dysfunction like that of the Rayburn family, yet all families have their issues. I don’t want to spoil anymore of the series because you have 13 episodes to watch before season 2 premieres in 2016.
After I finished season 1 something swelled up inside of me and I reached for the phone to call my family. I really only had a three little words to tell them, “You’re the worst.” I hung up the phone and went back to my lovely life. At least that is what I might have done if I cared that much. I learned long ago that families are good and bad from day one. You can’t choose your parents and siblings, so it is best to just go with it. I left home at 18, went off to college and never really looked back. It is not because I don’t love my family. I just have vastly different views on what it means to live a happy life. No new places or people can take away the lessons I learned from my parents, the companionship I had with my siblings, or the huge amount of compassion I continue to have for them each day. Although blood is factually thicker than water, it helps to know that without water (extended family, friends, mentors, honest strangers, etc.) you wouldn’t have anything coursing through your veins at all.
So, to the family I haven’t seen in over a year, let me put your worries to rest: I will be home in due time, wait a little while longer please.
