Oui R Family

Ah. It's amazing how much better one will sleep and how much warmer one will be in a well-made bed compared to a poorly-made one.

But what I really wanted to talk about today was family and how different my mom's side is from my dad's side. All this comes to mind because my dad's sister M came up to Iowa from Louisiana on a rescue mission this past weekend. She and her son Z left their house at 5:30 a.m. Friday. They pulled in shortly after 7:30 that evening.

The reason for the rescue mission was that her daughter D, who had baby T last January*, was up visiting her dad and his family. I enjoy getting to see her (because inevitable we do), but I wish she wouldn't try so hard to get their approval of her and baby T. Her grandmother says she's ruining the poor kid's life. (Really, the only thing I see wrong is she watches Spongebob with him. I automatically think anybody who watches that tripe is a nutter for sure.) D is actually doing a pretty good job, as far as I can see.

At any rate, I think she and baby T end up overstaying their welcome, though the overstay this time around was due to the weather — they missed their flight up in the Cities because they couldn't drive up. She finally convinced them to drive her and baby T to my parents' house, where M was going to meet her to pick them up. M and Z were stranded here until Monday, since there was a whole lot of ice and nasty weather in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. But they made it back and all is well.

I guess I love that side of the family so much because there's plenty of drama. And when M and Z come to visit, I get to catch up on the family gossip.

My aunt L, the second of my dad's three sisters (the other, C, lives in northern Iowa and we see her a lot), is full of drama. The last I had heard about L was that she was doing stuff that's a little "kinky." (Coming from M, I'm not sure I want to know any more than that.) The latest is that she moved in with a guy who spends more time in jail for drugs than out. And she's an hour away from her job (one way) and is all stressed out.

As for M, she has a live-in manfriend K, as well as Z, D and baby T all at her house. M, K and Z are all fervid WoW players. M and K went to GenCon this year. They're hardcore gamers, and I love it. (I think our entire family ought to go to GenCon sometime. It would be excellent.) M even got a DIY Monopoly set and created Cthulhuopoly. (Which is why I spent a while last night making my own version of Cthulhuclaus. I'd like to send it to her for Xmas.)

Now, my mom's side of the family is equally fun, but in a different way.

A transformer near her sister A's house was struck by lightning a few months ago, causing 220 volts to run through their house instead of the standard 110. Thankfully, the wiring held up and the house didn't burn down. In fact, they had to get all new appliances, computers, you name it. Their insurance covered it. A's husband R used to be a park ranger. Ranger Ric. (Or Rico Suavé, depending on whom you ask.)

My uncle E, mom's brother, works for UP in Omaha. He's the director of IT, pretty much the top of the food chain in his area. His wife D has worked as for a local meat packing plant, as a lunch lady and at Goodwill. She also sells Mary Kay. Their son A, who is great at arguing with our grandparents, is studying to be a lawyer. Their daughter A, transferred from UNO after a semester to UNI, spent a year there, and is transferring back to UNO for the spring semester. She no longer wants to be a teacher, but an accountant.

Wow. What a lengthy exposition. I was also going to tell you about a clever Xmas gift I'm planning, but I'll save that for another day.

*Funny thing about that post: I talked about having seen Pan's Labyrinth. I ended up watching that with the visiting family Saturday night.