Friday, August 7, 2009

It's Awkward

I've hawked this site before:

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/page/4/

Now they're including awkward stories as well. Many revolve around marriage announcements.

When my wife and I decided to get married, we went to her house and my house to spread the good news. At her house, her mother was horrified speechless, she hated me and thought that my entire family was crazy. Her father tried to reason with us. He sounded world-weary and beaten down, bitterly disappointed. "Everything is so expensive now," he went on, "why don't you wait until the prices come down." This was the middle of 1969, the very beginning of an inflationary spiral that went on until the Reagan recessions when things topped out at about three times the prices at the time of our marriage announcement.

Things were a lot less dramatic at my house. My parents just laughed, they thought the whole thing was hilarious, as in, we'll wake up tomorrow and discover that this whole thing was a joke, as in, didn't we see this on the Honeymooners? We just gave them a thanks for listening and turned on our heels, leaving for greener pastures.

Families are a mixed blessing.

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