the honeymoon is over

I arrived in California at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. I flew into Long Beach, which is my favorite airport in Southern California simply because it is so not complicated. There is only one terminal and it’s the smallest terminal I’ve ever seen. And you deplane on the tarmac which is super cool. So I got off the plane and started peeling off my layers. I put on my sunglasses, felt the warmth of the sun on my skin and thought, “Oh yeah, I’m home.”

My family picked me up at the airport and we’ve been together every waking minute since. Right off the bat, I realized something. My family is loud. They talk loud. They argue even louder. And they might be deaf too. The radio and the TV is always at a loud volume and maybe that’s because they talk so loud that the only way they can hear the TV is if it’s louder than they are.

I spent most of Sunday and Monday saying, “Calm down.” My mom and sister argue a lot and the volume at which they argue is deafening. I can’t believe that my family embodies the “Mexicans are loud” stereotype.

I didn’t fly all the way across the country to argue with my family. I prefer to stay out of it (or gently point out how pointless the fights are). So things were going well until yesterday evening. After a long day of running errands (like my hair which is back to its goth look), I really just wanted to relax at home. My sister had other plans.

When my mom finally got cable (for all my life, my mom thought cable was a waste of money), she conveniently forgot to give me access in my room. My tiny TV in my old bedroom is still using rabbit ears. Normally, I wouldn’t attempt to get my mom and sis to watch I Love NY 2 with me, but seeing as that the season finale was last night, I simply had to watch the impending train wreck.

Sure enough, my mom was appalled that I would watch that show. I explained to her how every one I knew watches it. In fact, every Tuesday morning at work, my co-workers and I would dissect the previous night’s episode in detail. I knew my mom wouldn’t get the appeal so I had to explain to her and my sister that it’s trashy TV and I simply watch it to be entertained. My mom was disappointed in me. My sister bitched about it for 23 minutes.

Yes, I kept track.

After spending all day with them as the rational one, I finally broke. I wanted to watch the show without being criticized, so I loudly said, “Shut up.”

Yeah, it wasn’t such a great comeback. And yes, I stooped to my sister’s level. But I was done with taking all of their crap and playing peacemaker all day. I snapped.

I’m human. What can I say?

Well, my sister snapped even more and got all angry. Hmmm, I thought, it had to happen eventually. The honeymoon is finally over. Reality is setting in. My sister was so angry that she refused to speak to me for the rest of the night. My mom was so upset at me for pissing my sister off that she also didn’t speak to me. It was an all too familiar situation.

I truly am home.