About a month ago, my parents took the whole family out for a "game night" at a local bowling alley. It was my mother's attempt to breathe some life (and some money) into a struggling small business ... and to get everyone together before her youngest headed back to college.
Despite the blizzard-like driving conditions that night, and the hemming and hawing from my husband the whole way there, it actually turned out to be a pretty fun experience ... The scientist in me was thoroughly entertained by all the little intricacies of the evening.
I've always known, but never really stopped to fully investigate (or appreciate), just how different my sisters and myself are. Of course, these differences are not relegated to appearance alone, and spill over into all other areas of our lives ... Likes and dislikes, personality, fashion sense, and, the most glaringly obvious ... Who we each chose as a significant other.
Summed up in a few words:
My husband: laid back, goofy, unassuming ...
Middle Sister's "friend" (she has yet to admit that he is her "boyfriend" even though he has been around for nearly a year): personable, established, an observer ...
Youngest Sister's boyfriend: spirited, competitive, immature ...
Even so, despite the differences in personality, age, occupation, and/or comfort level within my family, they way that these guys just fit together, as if they've known each other forever, was (and is) uncanny ...
While my Middle Sister or Youngest Sister's guy wouldn't be a match for me, and my husband would probably drive them crazy, it's easy to see what makes each relationship work. Maybe there is a balance of opposing attitudes. Maybe it's more like being "two peas in a pod." No matter what the case, a night of bowling with my family was like an experiment in watching a family grow. It was all too easy to see how newcomers are added to the mix ... Yet, somehow, they don't seem all that new.
It's like they have been there all along.
1 year ago
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