the "grandfather"

this weekend i will be taking guy to my step-father's family get together. we've never really mixed well, except for my uncle and me. he drinks a lot of beer, so that makes sense. my "grandfather" has drooling, repeating alzheimers and tends to say very inappropriate things to women, including his granddaughters. how sad it is that i don't care how sick he is. the fact that he has lived 92 years and my sweet grandaddy only got 90, is further proof that the universe sucks. step-grandfather was a real dick to the grandkids when we were little. condescending, he used to make jokes about how we didn't understand stuff as if we were retarded. he'd mock our innocence right in front of us. i am the oldest of the gkids and i knew what was up. neither of my step-grandparents acknowledged any of their grandkids' birthdays. this is a fact that has always blown my mind.

so it's the grandfather's birthday. i'm looking forward to seeing him open cans of mixed nuts and boxes of plaid flannel shirts. my mom, who also doesn't belong there, especially asked me to come, so she'll have someone normal to rest her eyes on. and she loves guy. she thinks he's "Darrrrrlin!" we're her kind of people.

guy and i will attend this get together for an hour or two, max. and once again leave there very very grateful that i have none of their blood flowing through my body. they make me grateful for my alcoholic, emphysema-ridden, bi-polar, once-homeless father's side of the family every time.