Hey friendlies. You’re probably all like, What’s up? Do you realize you haven’t wrote in days? When usually we can’t get rid of your stupid yammering! Are you okay? Are you dead?
Yammering: (v) See ‘yakking’, also ‘blabbering.’
Well, no. I am not dead. I am fine. Just busy. Like for instance, there is the fact that I started working again. Yeah, I know, you’re shocked that I actually found a job after so many months of looking. Who knew retail and other low end jobs were so difficult to come by? And besides that, there was also yesterday.
Which was, yanno, totally stressful. So stressful that I finally gave up on my art project and am sure I will not do so great on it. And for the record, it wasn’t stressful because of the art project. It was stressful because of the possibility that the dogs I am dog-sitting got into some Ibuprofen and then calling some vets and poison control and COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT. Apparently Ibuprofen is, like, the number one toxin for dogs. ABOVE CHOCOLATE! Seriously, all you dog owners out there - watch out. Do not, for example, leave a zippy bag of Ibuprofen in your purse if there is any chance at all of the dogs getting at it.
Man, that was scary. But the dogs are fine. And I am fine. And their owners will be home soon.
Okay. Well. Transition. (Also, I love how in blog posts you can just write the word transition and not worry about having an actual transition.)
I was thinking today, when I was driving home, about the difference between family and relatives. I know that technically, if we’re talking about extended family v. relatives, they’re pretty much the same thing. But they don’t seem like they should be. According to The Jordyn Dictionary, they aren’t the same.
Relatives are the people you’re related to. Your parents, siblings, parents’ siblings, grandparents, etc. Whoever you share a family tree with.
Family is slightly different. Family is smaller. Family is the people within that group of relatives that you care about and who care about you (and not in the oh-yeah-they’re-family way you care about your distant aunt Sylvia. Also, does anyone have a distant aunt Sylvia? Because if so, what a coinkydink.)
I don’t think that there’s a clear way to differentiate family from relatives though. It’s not that easy, but I know who I consider family and who I consider “just relatives.” For one thing, I know the family better. (The Family. Like we are part of the mafia or something.) I have funny anecdotes about The Family! I look forward to seeing The Family and wish I saw them more often! I call The Family! We keep in touch! We enjoy each other’s company! Most of the time!
Basically I think that all you really have in common with your relatives is a branch of the family tree and maybe some genetic traits, but you have so much more in common with the ones you consider family. If you are older than someone you consider a family member, you probably have funny and embarrassing stories about them. Like maybe when they were little they refused to wear underwear or a shirt with their overalls. (Remember overalls? I used to wear them all the time. And I don’t even think I liked them, but my mom did and I think that was when they used to be “in” or whatever, because people would say, “Jordyn, I like your overalls,” and I would be thinking that I belonged on a farm somewhere. Nothing against farms, of course. It’s just that I wasn’t on a farm. I was in school.)
Wow. I have certainly digressed and, as always, I’m not even sure if this post is understandable, but whatevs. Look forward to posts about The Family.