Affronted.

So, an old friend of my big sister's (and mine, i suppose) just sent me along a little message containing this response to my 'how are you?' query:

my kids are beautiful and doing well. nothing like us when we were growing up...



...wow. Thanks.

Should this have bothered me as much as it did? i felt like i'd been slapped in the face, to be honest. Maybe it's just that i feel like i've worked very hard to get where i am right now, which is not exactly a place i am proud of or happy to be in, but every day is a new day. i am still working on a lot of my own 'issues' and don't appreciate people being so candid about what terrible fuck-ups we all were. The past is the past, we've all (hopefully) atoned for whatever we may have done and moved up and away from our various struggles.

Now that i'm reading it objectively, however, it feels like less of a slight and more of an honest sense of relief that her kids are well-loved and taken care of. Well bully for them.

...kidding, kidding! Of course i am happy about that, and in no way implying that parenthood is some fucked-up hazing ritual in which your bad experiences and behaviors must, in turn, be passed along to your progeny. Guess i'm just feeling sorry for myself, which is loathsome, so enough of all that.

...here's something awesome! In the literal sense of the word! (beware: audio starts right away.)

As for me, i'm off to do some treasure-hunting; more on that later.