And then there was this...

Well, as with every holiday, we are scrambling about trying to figure out what we are going to do, where we are going to go on which day, whose house we are going to celebrate at, and so forth. You see. We like to celebrate with both sets of parents (mine and my wife's) for many of the holidays. Needless to say, this Fourth of July was no exception. We celebrated 3 different times. On Saturday, Both sides of the family came to our house, and we went to see the fireworks demonstration at the High School. It was great. I love doing just about anything that recognizes our troops and their dedication the their nation. Being an Army Brat myself, I have a great deal of respect for our Troops. I noticed myself almost in tears at certain parts of the night. It was even worse, when I looked up at my Dad, and saw that he was having trouble as well. There haven't been many times that I have seen my Dad cry, but I could tell he wanted to right then. He is a very modest man. He wouldn't even stand up, when they requested to have all of the Military stand. I almost stood up for him, but I didn't. Monday, my side of the family (mom, dad, my brother, and nephew) came up and we went to see more fireworks at the lake. It was great too. They shot the fireworks off continuously. They never had a break. Sadly enough, at both of these events, someone was injured. At the High School, a set of fireworks fell over and shoot fireworks towards the crowd. At the lake, I don't know what happened, but apparently one of the crew members was hurt. They shot for a while, and stopped. We thought it was over, but an ambulance went out to where they shooting. I hate that. However, Sunday is the night in question.
Sunday, I took my family over to my parents' house. There are actually 2 houses on the property. My sister and her kids live in one, while my parents and brother live in the other. It seemed like right from the start there was tension. I guess you could consider me the Black Sheep of all of the siblings, but that wasn't really the issue. The comment was made that even the people living on the property together can go weeks at a time without seeing one another. I find that hard to believe. I mean there are times I go that long, and don't go over, but I am not on the same property. Some may say that is no excuse, and I agree. It got worse today, than I have ever seen it, or should I say worse than I ever remember it getting. There was yelling and cussing and crying...Why does that have to happen? It was a shock to say the least.
One of my nieces is going through a bit of a hard time. She has a baby on the way, and is very young. This has caused a lot of the tension in the family. She is not making things better for herself either. She has become moody (can't imagine why), and takes out her frustration on everyone else, especially her sisters. They are both younger than she. She acts fine around me, so all of the talk about her being moody is hear-say. I guess she thinks I will get upset. She has gotten very brave. She talks back and cusses her mother (hear-say). Granted I disagree with her mother (my sister) A LOT (we won't get into that), but the fact remains that she IS her mother. I think there has to be a respect there. However, that respect should go both ways. The key word there is should. Maybe that is where one of the problem lies. Who knows? I just wonder What Happened? Hopefully, things will change for the better...soon.