My Dramily - Part IV - The After-Blowup Blowup

One of the themes I like to explore in my writing is how violence begets violence.  So here's a little bit of family drama that came from someone being upset about drama. After my nephew blew up at my mother for referring to the similarity between his and his father's behavior, she was really unhappy. She couldn't stop rehashing it over and over. And honestly not too many of my family members are exactly very good at letting things go. 

The siblings gathered in the kitchen to finalize the financial end of the 50th anniversary celebration. My mother was present. And my dad came into the kitchen to tell us about his experience at the party. 

He thoroughly enjoyed it. I've never seen him talk to so many people (I do get my antisocial behavior naturally). There was one small incident that bothered him. He had been sitting at a table eating and socializing and decided to get some more food. When he returned to his seat, the husband of one of my mother's best friends had taken it. No big deal, right? So Daddy stood up and began talking to someone by the screen where we were showing a slide show of family photos. Then the same man who had (rather rudely) taken his seat (rather rudely) asked Daddy to move as he was standing in front of the screen. 

Daddy wouldn't have minded moving, of course. And he did move. But he wanted to share with us the impolite way the guy had asked him. It was the only thing about the whole party my (often cantankerous) dad had any problem with. 

However, this just happened to be the wrong moment to share the story. As Mama was still fuming about her grandson's recent blow up. She stood up and shouted at my father, "Don't tell that story again!" She (rather like my nephew) stormed out of the room yelling at my dad. 

Mama was tired. It had been a long weekend. And I'm sure she was not only upset because of what had happened with my nephew, but also emotionally fragile given that many of her children and grandchildren were about to head to their own homes that day. Unlike my father and me, she adores the company of others. But anger is cyclical and self-feeding. Sometimes when the family has been together for a while we start quarreling. It was a perfect time to wrap things up and let everyone go back to their corners to nurse their wounds.