Growing up in Toledo Ohio with my parents and brother and sister,
I remember when my mom invited a friend of hers to spend a couple of nights at our place, and the way we all had to stop doing whatever it was we normally do so as to not be too loud or interfering with the comfort of our house guest.
Suddenly our own home became this other person's domain, like she had full license to "take over" everything in our place of residence.
I'm guessing the house guest was quite unaware of the way me and my siblings were being forced to sacrifice our normal way of living for her, as it was our parents who were strongarming us into this display of "domestic hospitality". She probably figured we were simply "courteous types" by nature.
I remember when my mom invited a friend of hers to spend a couple of nights at our place, and the way we all had to stop doing whatever it was we normally do so as to not be too loud or interfering with the comfort of our house guest.
Suddenly our own home became this other person's domain, like she had full license to "take over" everything in our place of residence.
I'm guessing the house guest was quite unaware of the way me and my siblings were being forced to sacrifice our normal way of living for her, as it was our parents who were strongarming us into this display of "domestic hospitality". She probably figured we were simply "courteous types" by nature.
My mother never had any friends to invite over and if she had I would have loved it because she would have had to control her foul temper and behave like a normal person for a few days.
ReplyDeleteMy parents did pretty much the same, but we also had to restrain ourselves---often to the point of being totally petrified and too paranoid to do anything or even make a sound---as they were primarily worried about us being the ones most likely to be offensive, never mind their tendency towards frequent erratic outbursts (although those mainly occurred when there were no visitors present).
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