Harry: Boy the holidays are rough. Every year I just try to get from the day before Thanksgiving to the day after New Year's.
-- When Harry Met Sally
About 10 yrs ago, Orlando (a good friend of mine) was in grad school in a big city and went home to her Midwestern hometown to visit her family for Christmas. One thing led to another and somehow, she ended up "coming out" to her mom and dad. This was certainly not what she intended but she was somewhat backed into a corner and forced to "confess."
Well, what a Christmas from that point on... all sorts of fun holiday cheer. Her family told her things like, "You're going to hell!" "You've chosen to alienate yourself from your entire family!" "You're ruining our lives!" And on and on and on. Poor Orlando... she thought they would be thrilled she was remotely happy and had not chosen to take a half bottle of Tylenol PM like she had the previous year when she "came out" to herself. Her family's response made Orlando seriously believe for a VERY long time they would have been happier if she had died. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Ha!
Orlando says she now knows that she is not alone in her recollections of "sad holiday tidings" and knows we don't all necessarily look forward to forced time with family around the holidays. Even more importantly, she told me it helps her realize that things DO get better with time, no matter how awful everything might seem. (I almost hate to end a Holiday Howl on such a good note but it's such an important message from such a horrible experience. And she was very generous to share the story with me. I want to include the wisdom hindsight has given her.)
Your turn! Share a story on your blog. Link back to mine. Post a link to your entry in the comments section of this post. I'll link to you below:
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
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wow. what a shitty holiday.
ReplyDeleteWell that set me back thinking... I know I had some lousy holidays just trying to remember details. It might be in the delete folder perhaps I can retrieve it later. Glad tidings. :)
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ReplyDeleteI can remember a horrible Christmas 5 yrs ago. when my folks and my sister's family were away at the same time - that was the first time Christmas seemed so sad and 'emptier'.. cos I'd never had one without the folks and so little family around.
BM
Ouch. The Holiday season is the one season that either really love or really hate - no middle ground. Thanks for this enlightening post, Judi. :)
ReplyDeleteHey Judi!! I just gave you another award on my blog. Enjoy!! :)
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