Blogocentric Formulations

Day 22: "There's No Such Thing as Fun for the Whole Family"

*Written as part of the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" 

Day 22 Prompt: Tell me about an annoying relative or aggravating family reunion.

First, a disclaimer. I love my family. They're great. No, really. As far as families go, they're laid back and our annual family reunion is usually a relaxed affair without a lot of stress or drama. Usually.

One thing that's been particularly difficult, though, has been my wife's relationship with my family, particularly my parents. Both of my parents have, at various times, said something that really offended my wife and it's been a long process to get back to the point where she's entirely comfortable around them. Add to that the fact that many people in my family have a "give them a hard time" approach to humor and I think you can probably tell where this story is going.

Each year we pick a different location for our reunion. We all live in California, with about two-thirds of us living in Northern California, and the remaining one-third living in SoCal. Every year the person planning the reunion changes and we try to choose equally between locations in the northern and southern half of the state so one group isn't always the one doing all the driving. Last year, it was a NorCal reunion and we spent a weekend in Bodega Bay, a small coastal town about an hour north of San Francisco, whose claim to fame is that Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" was filmed there decades ago.

Anyway, about a week before the reunion, my wife was out with a friend and they decided to eat at a oyster bar that she and I had been to before. Long story short, they had some bad oysters and my wife got one of the worst cases of food poisoning she's ever had. Even mentioning the word "oysters" - to this day - gives her a queasy feeling and back then, mentioning the world literally made her retch. So you can imagine how unamused she was when we got to the reunion in a town renowned for seafood, and my parents took it upon themselves to joke that maybe my wife would want to order a plate of oysters.

It made my wife sick to her stomach (and to her credit she smiled and put on a brave face even though she completely lost her appetite after that), but we all went on with our lunch and our day. Then the joke about oysters came at dinner again. And breakfast the next morning. And every meal and snack that we ate during the rest of the trip. My wife was so queasy at all the oyster-talk that she barely ate all weekend and everyone else seemed to notice her discomfort except my parents.

We did have a good time exploring the coastal surroundings, and when we were on our own and not being teased about oysters, my wife was able to enjoy some of the other seafood including a fantastic clam chowder and fish and chips. We played games and generally had a good time, but my wife's enjoyment was undercut by the constant jokes about her getting food poisoning.

You'd think parents who had been in the dog house with their daughter-in-law at times in the past would think before making said daughter-in-law the subject of ridicule in front of the whole family. You'd think they'd tease me or my brother because we're used to it and don't mind dishing it right back while my wife has never been a "hey let's all tease each other" kind of humorist. But I guess it'll have to be chalked up to a weekend of poor judgment on their part. It did make for an aggravating family reunion, though, and it'll be a good long while before my wife lets her guard down around them again. Maybe as long as it'll take her to try oysters again! (See, I can say that now because it's not the weekend after she was writhing in bed clutching her stomach in pain from those nasty mollusks! )