Wish me luck: family visit looms in the near future!

[Guest guest]

OK! We're heading out tomorrow to visit the FOO. I'm sure they'll be

up to their usual foo-lishness and I think I've done as much as

humanly possible to protect my husband and myself from undue abuse,

mysery and stupidity. But wish me luck and send me hugs anyway

because I always seem to get feelings of anxiety and worthlessnesss

when " fun " -foo-activities are planned.

On this trip, I'm going to work on not letting the little things get

me down. Like snooty nada comments which, incidentally, would be

amusing if I could only step back and bask in the insanity of it all

without taking it personally. I'm going to try to not let the

FOO-chaos upset me either. AND, I'm going to think of a list of

suitable topics for changing conversations with when I'm starting to

feel the heat(thanks MG!).

I am going to BYOLA(bring your own love and approval), a coping

mechanism I learned in Oprah. I will surely need it as I will be

spending time with baby brother's girlfiend who is a

skinny-big-boobed-fashion student that agrees with everything my nada

and bruddah say. I know my nada will be ready with plenty of

comparissons, but I am intending to dress in my regular weekend

fair(flip-flops, shorts and hippy shirt) and not wear makeup. Bring

it, nada!

Finally, I intend to write a short story about all the things that

make me miserable at the time, but that are really funny later. I

already make up funny versions of family visits to tell to my friends

and colleagues when they ask me about trips home. Something about

making it funny makes is speakable and livable too. My colleagues

have told me I should write a book about my family experiences. . .I'm

considering it!

Trish