Question of the Day - Monday, June 13, 2022

[MoochNNoodles]

I’m going to get a jump on Monday and post a little early this week. Maybe those of you a lot ahead of me time zone wise will appreciate it.


Who is your craziest/most interesting relative?


I don’t think I have any relatives that qualify as crazy. My mom’s childhood best friend probably would if you count friends as family. She’s a hoot still. Her husband is closer to my age than hers. A lot closer. She definitely had a season of life where she took trips without leaving home. (And will be the first to tell you that’s a very bad idea.) She was and is very artistic. I still remember her taking me into her art studio in the back of her parents barn/hanger to see something in the field and there were a lot of nude drawings all over. To a little kid it was shocking! To the point that I don’t recall what was in the field. Probably horses; but all I remember is being shocked by her artwork. Shes still fun to be around. And now that I’ve described her I’m realizing my own best friend is really similar. Even in looks. (Minus the drugs and that particular art form.) Whereas my mother and I were both the kids and teens who rarely got up to mischief of any kind.

My step-grandpa is very interesting though. He’s a minister and a very engaging speaker. He was born and raised in Puerto Rico and joined the military young; eventually rising to an impressive ranking with a lot of decorations on his uniform. That took him all over the world and gave him SO MANY interesting stories of people and places from both conflicts and peacetime. He can tell you stories you’ll never hear anywhere else or learn in any history textbook. He said he retired when they wanted to send him to work at the Pentagon and he didn’t want to move again. He’d raised 8 children at that point in I don’t know how many places. So then he became a Respiratory Therapist and earned his degree in theology. Eventually he started a small Spanish speaking church; where he still ministers today with his second wife he married in his 80s after being widowed. One of my Aunts inherited his speaking ability so I hope she decides to record all the history herself one day. It feels like hes lived 3 lives in one when you start listening to him talk. He’s never seemed pretentious about any of it. He’s just full of information. Oh and he’s a fantastic cook!

 

[mani]

I’m going to get a jump on Monday and post a little early this week. Maybe those of you a lot ahead of me time zone wise will appreciate it.

Why thank you.. so kind. It's mid-Friday-arvo* here.

I don't have anyone truly crazy or exceptionally interesting, but I do have a cousin who is an actor and so is her husband. They are exceedingly quirky. They live in a really expensive area on the outskirts of Melbourne, and their house must be the bane of their very houseproud neighbours.. overgrown, with bizarre statues in the garden. Inside the house is a wonderfully eclectic mix of stuff from their travels, and their idea of entertainment is to play actor-type games (charades would be the most well-known).
Great fun

*Australian for 'afternoon'
.

 

[Boris Diamond]

My paternal grandfather was an interesting character. He was originally a civil engineer, but he said that after helping survey a railroad through part of the Great Dismal Swamp, he decided to change careers. He went back to school and got a degree in medicine. He was an old time General Practitioner. He was 64 when I was born. When I got to know him, he had an office in a disadvantaged section of town. He was first-come first-serve basis and was only open two hours a day, from 1 - 3 PM. He held those office hours until he was 90 years old. Sometimes when I was young, he would take me with him. He did not have any help, so I would answer the phone and write down the names of the patients in the order of their arrival. He was not a man to cross. I won't even talk about the times people took his reserved office parking space!

I went for trips with him several times when I was 8 -15 years old. When I got my driver's license, we made several long driving trips. He must have been a real charmer, because when we ate out, every restaurant's staff would end up gathered around our table laughing and cooing. He was always encouraging and kind to me and I still miss him. My life would be quite different without his attention since my parents were not around much.

 

[Mia6]

It was my late Aunt Mattie who lived to be 105. She gossiped about the entire family She told everyone that the reason my dad was so thin was because my mother was a bad cook. He was just a thin man. She never marred but everyone was surprised when after she died she had well over a 7 figure estate.

 

[Tik cat's mum]

I have 4 brothers the younger 2 are let's just say outgoing. They are the first to get up and sing and dance and are the life of any party. That's all good but sometimes they can be embarrassing. One tells incredible stories which are all untrue, his nickname as a kid was Billy lair. He's been a millionaire and our dad owned a helicopter are two examples. And the other one is always reminding me that I'm his baby sis, especially when he's had a drink he loves everyone. Even if he's never seen you before. But I love them to bits.

 

[NY cat man]

Most of my relatives are rather bland types. The most interesting, to my lights, anyway, would be my paternal grandmother. Her life spanned from a time when automobiles were only experimental toys, through 5 wars; Spanish-American, WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. She was a teenager when the Wright brothers first flew, and saw men walk on the moon. She saw the rise of communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Oh, the stories she used to tell of life in the old days. I was in my 40s when she passed, so she wasn't some vague, shadowy memory from childhood. I only wish that I had had a tape recorder to get down at least some of her life experiences for posterity.

 

[misty8723]

Most of my relatives are crazy. Interesting? Not so much.

 

[strider rose]

most of my relatives have passed away ... so noone to talk about really

 

[maggiedemi]

My mother is definitely the craziest! Won't let anybody use the washing machine and stands in front of it and screams.
Nobody has heard of anybody ever doing that before, so nobody can help me with her, except tell me to leave.

As for the most interesting relative, probably my cousins who like to chat with me about food/coffee/life on Facebook. Anybody kind is most interesting to me. 2 of my brothers are interesting, not the oldest one, he's rich & mean.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

My mom is insane, but it definitely isn't a fun insane. She's very immature and has narcissistic tendencies so my sister is estranged from her and I don't have a good relationship with her anymore.

I hope that one day I will be the good crazy relative in the family. I am definitely weird and it's my favorite thing about me.

 

[artiemom]

I do have a cousin who is 'eccentric'.. as the kind word goes.. He is a so cheap.. is really rich.. was an alcoholic, was a religious freak-for a long time. Is mean spirited.. loves animals.. and everything is about him. Very embarrassing to go anywhere with. Very possessive. To the point that I once asked him to drive me to and from a hospital procedure. He embarrassed me. He came across as so possessive, the secretary had to ask if I was ok? as in an abusive relationship!! I was appalled. I had to tell him that he is my cousin and he is weird.

He goes hot and cold, whether or not he would help me with stuff. I do not call him, he calls me..

I had a bit of sympathy for him, because his upbringing was really dysfunctional.. as we all are.. and his mother was all controlling, and even cheaper... He never got over it...

 

[susanm9006]

My family runs the spectrum from the merely eccentric to the hearing voices schizophrenic so its hard to pick one that stands out. My uncle, my mothers brother, is clearly a little off, but also brilliant. He only had a high school diploma but a huge interest in electronics in the 50’s that propelled a distinguished career in early super computers.

 

[neely]

One of my uncles is probably the most interesting relative I know. He was my mom's brother but has since passed away. He started a business in CA that led him to become friends with certain celebrities. When he retired he became an extra in several movies and had some small parts in a few others. He had great stories to tell about different actors that I will never forget.

 

[aliceneko]

My uncle is probably the most interesting, at the moment - he's the nephew of a famous footballer from the '50s and '60s here in the UK, and he tried to get into one of the league clubs himself but didn't quite make it, so he had a career in tennis for a bit. I'm related to both famous Michael Collinses (the astronaut and the Irish military leader) on my mother's side of the family, so historically there were a lot of interesting relations in her family. Her grandma was also childhood friends with Charlie Chaplin and apparently had a lot of stories to tell.

Most craziest is probably my cousin's MIL so not technically related but definitely the craziest.

 

[LTS3]

My mother is definitely the craziest! Won't let anybody use the washing machine and stands in front of it and screams.
Nobody has heard of anybody ever doing that before, so nobody can help me with her, except tell me to leave.

Has she seen the doctor lately? Maybe she has an undiagnosed mental illness that is causing this behavior?

Could your dad take your mom out for a couple of hours to do something fun (guessing a weekend getaway isn't an option) and you can do laundry while they are gone? Or would that cause your mom to go completely insane and unhinged when she returns and finds that you did laundry without permission?

I've always been fascinated by an aunt of mine. She's not a blood relative. She's the sister in-law of my great uncle. I clearly remember the first time I saw her. I was 2 years old and my parents had a sort of party at home for my just born brother. Of all the relatives and other people in the house, all I can remember is that aunt and how she dressed so differently from every one else. She had her hair done up and wore make up and wore fancy expensive looking clothes and high heels. Everyone else was in casual clothes. And she spoke perfect English unlike everyone else who spoke English to some degree of brokenness. She was just so different from all the relatives and other people. The next time I saw her was at a cousin's wedding years later when I was in college. She still looked exactly the same and still wore makeup and dressed to the nines. By then I knew she had married into money and was born in the US unlike all the other relatives of her generation. Unfortunately I just found her obituary . No one in the family told me that she had passed and her funeral was this past January I'm not sure if my parents went.

 

[maggiedemi]

Has she seen the doctor lately? Maybe she has an undiagnosed mental illness that is causing this behavior?
Could your dad take your mom out for a couple of hours to do something fun (guessing a weekend getaway isn't an option) and you can do laundry while they are gone? Or would that cause your mom to go completely insane and unhinged when she returns and finds that you did laundry without permission?

She goes to doctors for pain and stuff like that, but never mental health. Yeah, obviously she has some type of narcissistic personality disorder. I used to sneak and do laundry when she left the house, but she never leaves anymore since the pandemic. She used to pile stuff in the washer and dryer before she left so she would know if I moved her stuff and used the machine, then scream if I did.

 

[game misconduct]

i would say any and all of my uncles aunts from my parents generation are interesting since they had to grow up or were born during the end or near the end of ww2 they lost siblings / relatives lots of hard times stories grim realities about what happens when war comes to occupy the country your born to.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

their house must be the bane of their very houseproud neighbours.. overgrown, with bizarre statues in the garden.

We passed a garden center with several very large Big Foot statues out front for sale today. Big stone Big Foots…just what every neighborhood needs!