Monday, March 2, 2009

Why do I bother?

I have two sisters. I have a mom. I am, for some reason, in the middle. I love them all. But all my life i have been caught in the middle of a game. I don't know the rules of this game, i have no idea what the objective is, and I have no idea how you even win. To be honest with you, i dont think there is a winner. This is the game. Mom and two sisters have conflicts. Mom calls me and ask for advice or opinion. Sister calls me and ask for how to deal with mom. I am now to tell each one how to go about being a certain way to the other. I am somehow to do this while keeping it secret. I cant take sides, but am supposed to have an opinion. Sometimes i get to hear complaints, sometimes i am told to tell the other one to stay out of it, butt out, or back off. I get to tell the other that one is sorry, one is mad, one is stressed, one is sick. Sometimes i feel like Hermione Granger and i want to say, "I am not an owl!" If they are aguing, they want me to make it better. If they are happy with one another, i am to applaud and affirm that they are doing the right thing. If they are sick, I am to make them feel better about snapping at someone. Here is how it goes, sister is stressed, mom wants sister to talk to her, sister feels anger at mom wanting to know how she is when she never cared when i was a teen why does she care now? Two days later, it goes this way, "mom doesnt care if i live or die, i am sitting here sick as a dog and she doesn't even care" "why can't she call me anymore?" or "mom just called and i dont know if i want to let her in, what if i just get hurt again?" How am i to win at this game? Sister calls to tell me she is having problems. I know mom wants to know that she is struggling, she wants to be there,wants to be supportive, but she just does not always know how to go about it. Sometimes her support comes across as nosey or judgemental or Lord knows what. It just comes across wrong. and then i get the fall out. someone calls me angry or upset and i get to smooth it over. I have been playing this game for as long as i can remember. Sometimes i want to play a different game, but there is no end to this one. I love my family and i want to be there for him. But day after day, i smooth over the edges, make people feel better about themselves and just deal. People ask me, about this or that. But i dont know. I dont ask questions. I dont want to know. They all seem to choose to tell me what they want me to know, when they want me to know. Until then, don't ask, don't tell. It is the way we roll at my house. I need a name for my family dysfunctional game, any suggestions? Did i ramble too much? If you know my family, it all made sense.

2 comments:

  1. Dysfunctional Dice. It's always like a roll of the dice anyway. Each die has 6 sides and there are two of them. One rolls in your favor, the other rolls against you. It's the higher minus the lower for the total for or against. You never know which is which until after the conversation.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i just wish i was not in the middle all the time. I know i am an objectiver party. I know that i am good at soothing the waters and making peace. I know i am good at making each one feel better about themselves. But i am sometimes really not interested in making people feel better about themselves. It never seems to occur to either of them that i have my own stress to deal with. It never seems to occur to either of them, that i may need a bit of help or support. I am just at their beck and call. I can't just tell them to deal with one another and make nice. I want so badly for them to be friends. I imagine it will make my life better if they can ever work out their differences. so i engage in the conversations. But really i just need to breath my own air once in a while.

    ReplyDelete