Letter home

2004-03-25 - 10:59 a.m.

From my dad:

"Your brother is out of a job again. He is still drifting through life without any direction whatsoever. He refuses to take any courses to better himself. He says he wants to work in a band as a drummer but even at that he doesn't think he needs any formal training. He says he is happy enough working for minimum wage . It's driving your mother and I crazy worring about him semingly trowing his life away."

From my mom (ellipses are hers):

"Your brother appears to have lost his job again and we don't know why.I know that he will find another job ... FINALLY, your father has offered to come up with the money to pay tuition to ANYTHING he wants to study, but he says he just wants to be a drummer in a band ....Don't worry .... I continue to buy lottery tickets so that your brother won't be living in a cardboard box ....."

From me (not sent at all, ever):

Dear Mom and Dad,

I appreciate that you like to keep me informed about my brother and the goings-on in his life. Could you please not use me as a sounding board to practice discussing how he will be a failure? If you'll recall, when I was in my early-to-mid-twenties, I had a bunch of unpaid bills, monthly threats from the landlord for eviction, and was working at a job that paid too little and generally sucked. You may recall that I still have no degree, and only started going to the editing classes last year. I understand that my brother and I may not always meet up to your expectations, and that we have made mistakes (and we've had some successes, too!), and I'm glad that both of you feel that we can talk about these things openly and honestly.

"What I wish, though, is that I was not placed in the role of either playing peace-maker and reassuring you that my brother will turn out fine (because I still believe he will...and I'm not always sure that there's anything wrong with him anyway) or commisserating with you on how he's making his mistakes. It is his life, and his mistakes to make, and unfortunately I have no more insight into how he chooses to live his life than you two do.

"I do like the attention, though, so if you could send some money my way and maybe tell all your friends that I'm an editor-for-hire, that would be great.

Love,

Your Son."

Maybe I should send that, in a slightly altered form. I think I'll sit on it awhile.

Cheers,

The Magus

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