Do any of you have strange relatives?

[JKirkLVNV]

I rather imagine that we are the strange relatives in our families.

 

[LSK]

puzzleannie:

all of my relatives are strange, we are a family, as my uncle once said, that places a high premium on eccentricity.

:bowdown: your uncle is a wise and wonderful man…

I know it is difficult, you guys. Some of my relatives are just plain goofy. Then again, I have been just plain goofy. I figure if they put up with me for so long…maybe it is the slight Southern streak in me (Dad’s family is from the South) that has learned to just appreciate the nuttiness - but then again, when it gets hurtful and harmful it becomes very tough to deal with on a regular basis…

 

[Island_Oak]

deb1:

…How do you keep patience with such people? Is there a special Saint to pray for strength in dealing with odd people? I try and keep a sense of humor when dealing with her, after all she is not mean, but I find that I have such trouble not getting impatience with this woman. I have no idea how I am going to spend two weeks peacefully with her.

It actually might give me comfort to hear about any strange relatives that you all might have. How do you deal with them?

What I’d really like to know is whether there is anyone who doesn’t have a strange relative in their family mix–I think odd relatives are the rule, not the exception!!

And I’ve found over the years that St. Valium or St. Cosmopolitan are wonderfully reliable antidotes to annoying relatives…

 

[ConcernCatholic]

deb1:

At one point she was even in RCIA but she quit and is very adament in her dislike of the Catholic church. Any corrections that I try and make over her confusion on Catholic beliefs is met with, “Well, I learned that in RCIA.”:banghead:

I recently went through RCIA to join the Catholic church and there were definitely some things presented incorrectly. I also know that the person teaching the class can spoil it. My sister was going through RCIA and dropped out because the priest was rude to her and made a few inappropriate assumptions. She needed a baptismal certificate but was unable to get one because our mom couldn’t remember which church she was baptised in and all of her records were destroyed in a flood. When my sister approached the priest, he said “well, it must not be that important to you”, in a very snotty manner. There have been other such incidents that I am not going into. My sister was once very open to the teachings of the church but because they were distorted by a priest, she quit going to RCIA and now has a strong dislike for the church. I never would have finished going through RCIA if my husband hadn’t provided me with orthodox reading materials. (My husband was a Benedictine monk for two years. If he couldn’t answer me specifically, he knew where to look.) I also went to a Catholic university and was taught the real teachings of the church by a very orthodox nun. I had to really look past some of the stuff that I was being fed in RCIA. I just wanted to share this with you to give you another perspective as to why your SIL might feel the way she does about the Catholic church. If I had not had so much prior experience and knowledge of the church, my initial teachings about the church could have easily been corrupted.

P.S. Most of my family is full of weirdos too!!! Of course, from their perspective, I am probably the weirdest of them all since I am the only Catholic…ewwwww

 

[catsrus]

originally posted by ConcernCatholic
P.S. Most of my family is full of weirdos too!!! Of course, from their perspective, I am probably the weirdest of them all since I am the only Catholic…ewwwww

LOL!
It’s DH’s family that is jam packed with weirdos (boy!, could I tell some stories on them - but I won’t).
But they DO think I’m the family weirdo for being a Catholic. They can not understand how I could be religious being married to their brother, son, brother-in-law.
The think they know DH soooo well, but they don’t.

 

[puzzleannie]

I have just received my sister’s annual Christmas newsletter. Among other items, it contains an list of “10 fun things to do with cat hair”, a recipe for grapefruit marmalade that takes 4 days to make, and a reminiscence of the time she and our youngest sister destroyed my dollhouse by lighting birthday candles placed inside a toilet paper tube, used as a decoration in the living room.

 

[Anglican77]

puzzleannie:

I have just received my sister’s annual Christmas newsletter. Among other items, it contains an list of “10 fun things to do with cat hair”, a recipe for grapefruit marmalade that takes 4 days to make, and a reminiscence of the time she and our youngest sister destroyed my dollhouse by lighting birthday candles placed inside a toilet paper tube, used as a decoration in the living room.

I’m curious to know what are the 10 fun things to do with cat hair? Does that make me odd? It’s not that I want to do them, just very, very curious!

My odd relative, among many, is my stepfather who refuses to go on any vacation if he can not bring his dog - a shitsu named Chinny.

I also have a MARRIED aunt who met an Australian guy online, lied about her name, lied about her age by about minus 20 years, lied about her appearance by showing a 20 year old photo of herself, lied about how many children shae had, thus denying her two sons, and if that wasn’t enough, she also lied about being married. Then, she planned a trip to meet this man (by herself) had her husband help pay for the trip (he knew why she was going! ) and went to meet him - lies still intact. Now, when she met the guy, he obviously found out she was lying about at least the age and appearance, and then told her he wanted nothing to do with her. She remained married to my uncle and four years later she just moved to Milwaukee (by herself) and is still married. I’m hesitant to admit that she is actually a blood relative (my dad’s sister.) All of this nutty behaviour on my dad’s side of the family started when he passed away unexpectedly in 1999. It’s so strange, seriously our entire family fell apart. There are feuds between certain relatives now and then this whole thing with my aunt. Can one person’s death really cause all of this?

 

[Celeste88]

Yes, my dear sister is a wacko. I’m waiting for her to get over here latest weird phase. Don’t want to go into details in case she should read this but I often find myself :banghead:

 

[geezerbob]

An uncle got caught making moonshine while he was a deputy sheriff. Another one was arrested for shooting deer at night while he was a game warden. Then there’s me, but we won’t go into that.

 

[Princess_Abby]

puzzleannie:

I have just received my sister’s annual Christmas newsletter. Among other items, it contains an list of “10 fun things to do with cat hair”, a recipe for grapefruit marmalade that takes 4 days to make, and a reminiscence of the time she and our youngest sister destroyed my dollhouse by lighting birthday candles placed inside a toilet paper tube, used as a decoration in the living room.

Christmas letters are hilarious. We used to sit around and read them out loud on Christmas Eve, just to laugh at the absurdity at what some people choose to share.

 

[Shae]

Do I ever. I have three sisters. The were all baptised as catholics when they were born, but have chosen other paths namely pyhsic, with tarot and reiki. My two younger sisters are jumping on the same band wagon, and claimning to have interconnected dreams with each other. The oldest sister claims that Mary was concieved whilst being inside a UFO. My mother also claims that Jesus is buried in France somewhere and had loads of children. I just let this babble run over my back like water repellent. They rub all this in my face, and one of the husbands claim that catholics get on their soap box and shove catholicism down everyones throat.
I will give witness to my faith, but I will not yell it at the world.
I want to shut them up, but i have a screwed up enough family without getting into a heated religious arguement.

shae

 

[Lapsed]

I rather imagine that we are the strange relatives in our families.

I know without a doubt that I am the strange relative in my family. The rest of them are straight laced compared with some of the stuff I’ve gotten up to over the years.

 

[Kristina_P]

Island Oak:

And I’ve found over the years that St. Valium or St. Cosmopolitan are wonderfully reliable antidotes to annoying relatives…

I don’t have a prescription, and it’s so hard to drink around Baptists…

 

[puzzleannie]

in my extended family (all of whom except one are products of 12 years of Catholic schools) we have:

one tarot card reader (she does this for a living) she also designs and sells tarot card decks
one astrologist (ditto) who has written and marketed very successfully do-it-yourself astrology software

One person locally well-known as the leader of the local coven for an annual winter solstice even she organizes and runs in the local park, which has become a huge tourist attraction. she has published several books on goddess worship and considers herself a reincarnation of some obscure goddess or other.

one individual who visited unannounced after and absence of several years, and at breakfast put his hostess’ hand between two slices of bread, spread mustard on it and started to chomp

one couple who got married on a hilltop in a state park at midnight whose reception was an actual orgy (planned that way). the actually found a judge to witness it, but waited until he left before they brought out the hard drugs.

one person who subsists on a diet of salami, bread, mayonnaise and koolaid, because all other foods are injected by the government with harmful chemicals, especially the water
one person who calls the cops at least once a month because the traffic helicopters flying over his house (near a freeway) are spying on him
one person who started their own church to preach that the entire US space program is a hoax, there is nothing in the universe outside earth, and that the end of the world is imminent because the state of Israel has been established, so we all need bomb shelters in our basements stocked with survival supplies

one couple who breeds dogs, and refers to them as their children, including sending them to doggy daycare, and holding “graduation” ceremonies for them complete with diploma, cap & gown, pomp & circumstance and a video of the ceremony

one artist whose methods include staging scenes constructed out of broken crockery and furniture, complete with dismantled dolls
one photographer whose work consists entirely of pictures of abandoned train stations
one person whose entire apartment is furnished with an enormous model railroad layout, one bed, one chair, a TV tray table, a small refrigerator and a microwave.

one person, now deceased, who spent the last 10 years of her life listening to late night talk radio and calling daily to tell her daughters about what she learned that night, about the pope being the antichrist, masons infiltrating the Vatican, convents used as brothels etc.

one person who regularly cleaned out the accumulated junk of 40 years from her large house, packed it in boxes, and mailed it to grandchildren.

one person who constructed an entire band full of instruments constructed from junkyard discards and gives regular performances, of very good music incidentally, which people pay to enjoy

One man who quit his job to go on welfare so he would not miss his kids soccer games.

one person whose diet consists chiefly of food he filches from the tables of other people who have finished their restaurant meals. he carries ziploc bags with him to do his foraging. he has at least a half million dollars in the bank. he thinks deepak Chopra is the new messiah, that Jesus had a harem and that we are all probably his descendents 14 times removed. he also thinks bill Clinton is the reincarnation of David.

need I go on? I won’t tell you which of the persons described above is me.

 

[Giannawannabe]

puzzleannie:

one person who regularly cleaned out the accumulated junk of 40 years from her large house, packed it in boxes, and mailed it to grandchildren.

need I go on? I won’t tell you which of the persons described above is me.

I’m guessing you’re this one, annie!!!

 

[puzzleannie]

Giannawannabe:

I’m guessing you’re this one, annie!!!

no, I buy new junk for my grandchildren, in fact, I am packing a box today. but I have flirted with a lot of new age idiocy in my time, or at least not spoken out as strongly against it as I could. I have to keep my mouth shut when I am with my family. Which is why I am down here, and they are mostly up there.

forgot about the guy who left the church and became a professed athiest because God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, which proves God is angry, vindictive and a child abuser. All attempts to teach the meaning of this sripture have failed, this person is invincibly ignorant as they come. Same person has not seen a doctor in 40 years because they are quacks who don’t know anything.

 

[deb1]

I vote that we give Puzzle Annie the prize for having the most number of strange family members. Whoa! PuzzleAnnie, I read about the man who slatthered his hostess hand with mustard and then chomped down. Oh my goodness.:bigyikes: Now, I feel much better. None of my family members want to ingest me.

 

[puzzleannie]

in fairness I have to point out that our extended family is huge, and does contain a fair number of outwardly normal people as well.

 

[Loboto-Me]

Puzzle Annie, my guess is that you’re artistic… either you’re this one:

one photographer whose work consists entirely of pictures of abandoned train stations

Or maybe this one :

one person who constructed an entire band full of instruments constructed from junkyard discards and gives regular performances, of very good music incidentally, which people pay to enjoy

Either one sound rather “normal” in an artistic sort of way.

 

[ReginaNova]

puzzleannie:

need I go on? I won’t tell you which of the persons described above is me.

Can we rule out this one (for obvious reasons)?

puzzleannie:

one person, now deceased, who spent the last 10 years of her life listening to late night talk radio and calling daily to tell her daughters about what she learned that night, about the pope being the antichrist, masons infiltrating the Vatican, convents used as brothels etc.