My brothers...are just...a mess. There is no other way to say it. I think I've written a little about them before, I can't remember. They live together in the house that I grew up in while my parents are in Vegas taking care of my Grandma. Some how my brothers are "special" in my parents eyes. I don't know how we all turned out differently being raised by the same people. Well...maybe that's not true, I mean we were raised by the same people but with different circumstances. My older bro and I are three years apart, then came little bro eight years later. So little bro was an only child from age 9/10 when I went off to college and older bro was in the army.
They spoiled little bro, although he'll deny it. He'll tell a story about how tough his life was, all while he drank, smoked and pissed away his schooling. I'm not bitter, really... He blames my mom for his bad teeth, guess why? It's because he used to cancel his appointments and she wouldn't reschedule them for him. Huh. Okay. Yes, every problem my brothers have seem to be because of someone else. They have no internal voice that say, "Maybe you should take some responsibility for your actions..." Nope, they are more than happy to blame the enablers in their life. My parents.
This Thursday I guess my older bro had enough of something that my little bro was doing (this time it was the dirty dishes) and beat the crap out of him. Full on beat down. So little bro calls my parents and expects them to throw their older child out of the house. While I do see little bros point and frustration isn't it up to him to move out? If you don't like the situation you're in, get out of it. But he has no job and where else can he live for free?? Yes, free. My little brother hasn't paid bills or rent for months now since he lost his job in the fall. He's had this other job lined up for months, but it doesn't start until next month, and that is what he said last month too...hmmm...
Older bro has anger issues, obviously right? He's always been an angry person, one of those "life isn't fair, I got a bad deal from birth" type of anger. He joined the military because he didn't have other options after H.S. We thought it was good for him, gave him a sense of responsibility. Although in hind sight I think it brought an even uglier side out in him. He started drinking a lot in the military. Smoking. Fighting. But he seemed to be okay with it. Then there was a point of "they're trying to Eff me over" and he resigned from the military. He said he was tired of being jerked around. Okay. Fine. So he moved back in with my parents. Eventually he moved out on his own, he was working, doing fine. Then his place was broken in to and he moved back in with my parents. Then he moved out again, met his wife, my parents moved to Vegas and he and his new wife moved in to my parents house. Fine. Dandy. Everything is great. Of course she was a bitch and broke his heart within 6 months, they are now divorced and he is still living in the house. He drinks too much and is a compulsive spender.
Older bro, since being in the military, has a neat freak quality. He's also one of those people who are ALWAYS right, no matter what. (My little bro shares that quality.) So nothing is ever good enough unless he does it.
Little bro, since being a spoiled rotten irresponsible child, has a "I can do whatever I want" quality. Of course he is a know it all as well. He thinks that whatever he does is fine. He likes to push buttons, he's been doing it since he was 3 years old. I witnessed it.
Can you see why they shouldn't be living together? Can you see why my parents should kick them both out on their respective asses and make them live real lives?? But my parents can't stand the thought of turning their kids out on to the street.
My parents (read - MOM) was hard on me growing up. Nothing was ever good enough. When I turned 18 she bought me dishes, 19 she bought me pots and pans. Nice huh? I thought so until she said, "These are so you don't come back." And on some level I'm sure she thought she was joking, but on another level there was truth in that statement. Well, it worked. I never moved back after I turned 17. I did come home for 2 out of 4 summers, but other than that...nada. I was on my own, didn't ask for help (only because the one time I asked for $50 my mom called me at 6am and bitched me out) and somehow I always made ends meet.
Why the hell can't my brothers take responsibility for their own lives? And the kicker...they BOTH say that they are doing our parents a favor by staying in the house... Really? Seriously? Yeah. That's what they think.
My parents are driving to CO next week to check things out, my dad is going to set some ground rules, you know like:
1. No loaded guns within reach in the house
2. You must each pay me $250 a MONTH (they have a hard time doing this, sad huh?)
3. You cannot hit each other
If you think I'm joking....far from it my friends. They are out of control.
2 comments:
Oh good grief....
Did it ever occur to you way back when... our brothers are all eerily similar....
Pity that all that "tough love" our parents seemed to be capable of dishing out to you and I? Abso-freaking-lutely missing when it comes to those idiot boys.
I was also going to mention how parents can have a strict, no-nonsense method of raising girls, while spoiling boys. I think moms do this because they have this idea of how their daughters should turn out, whether they do or don't want their daughters to end up like them. I think dads are more likely to spoil girls, while being uptight about who they date.
Post a Comment