(no subject)

[darkluna]

With Little Sis knocked up again and the holidays getting close, I'm battening down the mental hatches for another round of "When are you going to get married and have kids?"

My impulse is to say "When hell freezes over," but given that half of the family is pretty religious, that would probably create more problems than it would solve. I'm certainly not equipped to deal with people trying to save my soul at family gatherings that are bone dry. Hearing that Satan thinks he's won calls for at least a Cosmopolitan.

[I think the chart of Liquor Required for Coping looks like this:

Big Papi striking out with the bases loaded: 1 beer
"You're going to hell": 1 mixed drink
The 2004 elections: 3 whiskey shots
War with Iran: entire bottle of Bailey's]

Then I thought I could say "When I get tired of doing whatever I want, whenever I want." But that leaves the door open for "Oh, so when you grow up a little?"

Then I thought I could say "When I get bored with porn." That would certainly freak them out enough that they'd back away slowly, their minds reeling at the very thought that a woman might actually enjoy anything sexual.

Then again, my mom would kill me.

So I have a strategy in reserve that involves bringing my fic along and quietly writing away until someone decides to harrass me, at which point I'll say "I'd love to tell you fifty reasons why I'm not married, Aunt D, but first I have to work out my characters' lube-related logistical difficulties."

Comments

[havocmangawip.livejournal.com]

I have told people who think I need to get out more, "Sometimes when the company isn't going to be any good I'd rather sit home and have a beer and edit fiction with people online. Oh, and write smut."

[darkluna.livejournal.com]

At least twice, I've felt that it would be more enjoyable and rewarding to just stay home and write smut instead of going on a date I had scheduled.

The really sad thing is that I wasn't wrong.

[zinnea.livejournal.com]

I have no relatives like that. Nor do I know many people who have relatives like that. It fascinates me; I can't imagine a family where people would feel free to ask such a prying question although, obviously, I know they exist.

In any case, MY response to "When are you going to get married and have kids?" would be to give them that "Wow, you're STUPID" look and respond, "When are you going to get some manners and stop asking questions that aren't your business?" If they get offended at that, it's their own damn fault for asking the question in the first place. You're under no obligation to provide an answer for a question that is such a major breach of etiquette and it continues to floor me that people really do ask those sorts of things.

[darkluna.livejournal.com]

You make a good point. It is incredibly rude and intrusive. But the thing about extended families in the south - OK, mine, at least - is that 1. they think this sort of thing really is their business, and 2. they still can't imagine why any woman in her 30s would not be dying to get married and start popping out kids. I have always been the weirdo who went away to college and got crazy ideas, and now that I live here again, they want me to settle down and stop being such an oddball.

Note that my immediate family is fairly awesome. It's just the grandparents and great-uncles and such who drive me nuts. I actually skipped the family reunion this summer. That's probably the best way to go.

[(Anonymous)]

I was just checking out this website earlier today: http://www.childfreebychoice.com/index.htm

:)
Jul
www.zurika.com