iriseyes

I'm home from Shael's. I survived four nights at his family's house, not without some tears though. Maybe I'm a basketcase, I dunno. Coming from a home where there is very little drama, very little arguing, where everything runs smoothly for the most part, it can be a bit overwhelming and stressful to spend an extended period of time in a house where there is so much tension it practically chokes you. There are only four people in that house, but you'd think there was a hundred. His parents bicker. His 17-year-old sister hates being there, and has an enormous stick up her ass on top of it. This is what happened:

Shael and I had planned on going out to a nice dinner, just the two of us, before I even got there. We planned to go Sunday night, but that day we had to go to some family graduation party first. His mom insisted we stay for an hour and then we could leave. So she was fine with it. His dad on the other had, who's a major asshole, didn't like that idea. Thirty minutes before we leave for this family thing, he tells Shael that we can't take Shael's Buick to the party. (It's a '63 Skylark that he's fixing up, and as of right now the only car Shael has that is running). His dad says, "You can't take that car, we're going as a family." We needed to have a car to take so we could leave early and go to dinner. If we didn't have a car, we'd have to stay at the family thing the whole time, and then it would be too late. It was my last night there, we had to go that night if we were going. This is why I dislike his father so much. He the most inconsiderate person. I bought a cute dress for this date of ours and everything. We don't go out like this all the time, so it was important to us. Shael was furious because now our night was totally ruined. We would have to go to this family thing, which we didn't want to go to in the least, and then not get to go out at all. There was a lot of yelling and slamming doors after that. This is where I couldn't take it anymore.

At this point I had been there since Thursday evening, the whole time surrounded by arguing and chaos. Shael and I were in his room, and after his dad barged in said something about how ridiculous it was that we were going to go out an pay for a meal when there was free food at this party, and then slammed the door, I started crying. It was a mixture of anger at his father and stress from all the fighting going on. It was just too much for me. I realized then that Shael's depression will never go away while he's in that house. Look what it did to me! I was only there a couple days! Can you imagine living like that for 20 years?!

I know that at times my skin could stand to be a bit thicker, but I don't think that anyone should have to live in an environment like that. You shouldn't have to "tough it out." Homes should be nurturing and peaceful. It should be a place that when you come home from a hard day you can relax and enjoy yourself. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who thinks this, and that I'm not the only one who grew up with considerate and supportive parents in a loving home.

We did end up going to dinner, once his mom got home and I talked to her. His dad still kept making comments though. We bolted from the party as soon as we could and had a very lovely dinner away from the chaos that is his family.