While with my extended family over the weekend, I started to really notice the contrasts between my in laws and my family of origin. We are so different it's almost a cross-cultural marriage. Don't get me wrong, I love my in laws and enjoy my visits with them - they are gracious and wonderful. But they are New York City Undecided Voters and we are Rural Midwest Democrats. Johnny C has an uncle who falls in the middle, but anyway here are my observations:
Things common with me and my family that you'd
NEVER see at my in laws
The tub of dog food in the kitchen, bound with duct tape, and two BB guns leaning nearby
The campfire pit, and cast iron cookware for that fire
The cooler full of Heineken, Corona and Berryweis on the deck
The giant grill - almost always in full use including to cook the morning bacon
What feels like 10 dogs underfoot
The recycling bin filled to the top with wine bottles
Live chickens
Pickups
An "Oh, Evolve!" bumper sticker
Cousin S stepping on the dead rooster carcass to rip out feathers for her hat
The constantly running coffee maker with spilled coffee all around
Candles burnt to the nub
Lumber, firewood, and old doors stacked on the side of the house
Piles of books on politics, cooking, and history
Raised bed gardens
Cars coated with gravel dust
Water rings on the coffee table
Greg Brown, Dixie Chicks, and Big Band CD's
Women in hiking shoes
Things common with my in laws that you'd NEVER see in my family
The matching towel set for show in the bathroom
The continuously clean kitchen counters
A beautifully decorated laundry room
The fully stocked bar, and I mean a bar actually built into the living room
Decorative candles
Covers for the patio furniture
Cut glass relish plates
Coasters
Matching clothes
Appetizer forks
Women in high heels
A very very clean gas grill
Things we have in common
Funny kids
Picnics in parks
Ice skating
Growing tomatoes and basil
Dean Martin
Women in sneakers
"Everybody Loves Raymond"
Great cooks
Love
9 comments:
Sis-this comparative list could easily compare to my almost in-laws!
Thanks for the lists and might I add:
The deer carcass pieces that the dogs carry around, the almost dead mouse the cat is playing with and sipping slightly browned maple sap from a tin cup that has been dipped into the rolling boil.
Guess I won't worry about getting my house dusted.
That's great. If you were all exactly alike, it would be boring.
My family, my birth family, can have many both lists! My dad would have all kinds of beer in the cooler and a fully stocked liquor cabinet! The kitchen is clean, but the coffee spots remain, and the counters are full of extra junk food and snacks because all we seem to do it eat(and drink).
No live animals...lol, but most of those things are true, and yes my crazy mother insists on the matching towels, but no one is really allowed to use them, use the old ones under the sink please!
Piles of books on politics, cooking, and history
Now that's a GOOD thing you know. :)
I am the crazy mom who loves her pretty towels. My family keeps me humble by constantly using them for hand drying and making them go wonky on the bar...I can be heard at least once a week saying, "Those are the NICE towels- leave them alone!!!"
Cut glass relish plates should have gone the way of the dodo.
Hey! I resemble those comments. :)
Ha ha! I love your two lists & you may have inspired me to do my own lists.
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