Kaonashi Ga Suki

So, check this out.

A fateful day is arriving soon.

Now, I’m not talking about Thanksgiving Day, but it does occur on that day.

My parents are finally meeting my bf’s parents for the first time.

*insert scream*

Because my bf’s parents live in another state, they have never met my parents before- even though my bf and I have been dating for years and years. Oh, my mom has spoken to his mom on the phone once, and they have met my bf’s brother, but this Thursday will be the very first face to face meeting of his whole family and my whole family.

My parents had actually invited his parents for Thanksgiving dinner last year, but at that point they had already made plans. This year his parents figured to come since they couldn’t make it last year.

You know what the funny part is?

I’m not worried at all.

However, I think my parents are shitting in their pants right now.

Ya see, my bf’s parents are rather well to do, and even though my parents don’t exactly live in a poor neighborhood (it’s actually quite nice! Gated community and all!), they’ve always felt intimidated by them. Admittedly, a good part of that is my fault because when I was younger, I would rave about all the cool places my bf’s parents would take me- fancy hotels, swanky restauants, skiing- and I guess that made my parents feel kind of small. I didn’t mean to make my parents feel bad- it’s just that I would feel excited over the cool places I would visit and I just wanted to share my experiences with my family. However, when I realized the negative effect it was producing, I stopped doing it. I would just say that I had a great time and not go into further detail.

Now they’re coming to my parents’ house, and I’m sure that they’re sweating bullets.

But the thing is that my bf’s parents are actually pretty down to earth people. Sure, they like to stay in nice hotels and eat at nice restaurants, but they’re just as happy at a local taco stand. They may like skiing, but their real favorite outdoor activity is walking and hiking. Sure, they go to the opera, but they also love a good game of dominoes. They’re very laidback and nonjudgmental, and I tried telling my parents this, so they shouldn’t worry about trying to impress them.

I don’t think they heard me though.

This weekend I got a call from my brother, begging me to come over and help clean the house. EXCUSE ME?!?!?! They wanted me to drive 45 minutes just to come and help them clean THEIR HOUSE. Um, I have my OWN APARTMENT to take care of. I tried to say that I couldn’t since I have my own place to take care of, not to mention schoolwork. My brother then says that they need an extra hand to help them clean up.

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Ya see, I come from a family of lazy ass pigs. They are content to wallow in their own filth, and are not spurned to clean unless guests come over. I admit that as a kid and teen, I was pretty lazy myself. I didn’t want to clean. I hated cleaning. I preferred to play, or hid behind my homework. But see, I grew up. When I went to college, I learned the importance of cooperation, of getting alone with others. I had to chip in with the cleaning because I want my apartment to look nice, and not to get beat up by my roommates. More importantly, I wanted to be clean so that I can invite friends at any time and not feel embarrassed to see my apartment.

When I lived in Japan, I learned more about the value of a clean place. I cleaned every other week and enjoyed the fruits of my labor. I also learned that the more often you clean, the less time it takes to do so.

Unfortunately, my family never learned that. They say that they’re so busy with this and that, and never, ever clean UNLESS they find out that guests are coming. Suddenly it’s this huge occasion that takes several days to accomplish.

Admittedly, my dad is sort of like me- he prefers a clean house. He too, tried to keep the place clean. Unfortunately the rest of my family’s piggy ways was too overwhelming for my dad and after a while he also gave up.

When I first got back from Japan, I lived with my folks for a while. I tried to routinely clean their house. After a while, I stopped. Why? Because I was the ONLY person doing it. No one helped me. Instead, they added to the mess by refusing to stay clean. And it really, really pissed me off.

I had thought that when I moved out of their house and into my own apartment, that I would never have to be responsible for cleaning their mess again. I was wrong.
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Back to my phone conversation with my brother: he kept asking me to please come and help them clean. I was getting angry at this point and told him that they made the place into a pig sty.

Suddenly my mom’s voice chimes in.

I was on speakerphone.

Crap.

“We know that we made this place messy, but we don’t have to clean it up. These people are YOUR guests, and you’re not even going to help us clean?”

Suddenly, they’re just MY guests. I don’t know how that happened.

Tell me- is it fair to force me to clean their fucking house when I had nothing to do with making it so messy?

Hell, I’m worried about getting my own place clean on time. I’ve just come down with an awful cold. I feel like shit right now. I can barely clean my own place, let alone drive 45 minutes to clean theirs.

She started rambling blah blah blah, how I don’t want to help them, blah blah blah, I won’t come to fix her iPod, blah blah blah, no one loves her, blah blah blah. The usual guilt inducing crap that she so LOVES to use.

Let me get this straight. She expected me to drive all the fuck way over there just to fix her iPod? Does she think I live next door or something?

My head was boiling at this point.

But I had to keep cool. I didn’t want to ruin Thanksgiving.

I caved in.

So I told them that I would come on Wednesday morning. But I couldn’t stay the night. I told them I would return the next day to cook the turkey.

My brother sounded grateful, and thanked me for agreeing to come on Wednesday.

I’m still very pissed off at them for making me do this. I should be concentrating on my own problems. Why in the hell should I clean up THEIR mess?

Sorry I had to vent to you guys, but I was just very pissed off about yesterday’s phone call, not to mention the iPod crap my mom brought up.