Miscellany
Oct. 22nd, 2015 06:05 pmMy mother called me yesterday in tears. She'd just talked to my sister, wanting her to think about the possibility of writing one of those 'coupons' kids sometimes do for their parents. Mom wanted my sister to promise at some point to have a meal at Mom's house with me, my sister, and brother. I have no idea why this is important to her, especially the 'under her own roof' part. But my sister refuse, saying that all families are different and in ours this can never happen. (and if my mom and brother would have just come to the funeral my aunt didn't want, we all would have eaten together.)
So my mother stated she didn't want a funeral because it would break her heart if my sister was willing to eat with my brother after my mother dies, but not while she lives.
After two hours of talking her down, she asked my to call her in a few days so she didn't do anything drastic (like throwing out all my sister's pictures and pretending she had only two children). She called back a few hours later, sounding much better. She decided to leave the whole thing to God, which made her feel better, so that's all good.
I read an interesting essay the other day. It's about happiness and other people's expectations of what that mean when it comes to choosing not to have children. Would Virginia Woolf have really been a happier person if she'd had kids and written fewer works? Or would she have just raised several miserable children? And the fact a person counted as selfish if they don't want children (personally, I'd be more likely to call them selfish if they do, not a bad selfish, but selfish none the less unless the kids are adopted).
But the thing I took away from the whole thing was that happiness should never be the be-all-end-all because happy people never change the world.
Also I found out what an opposite of hyperbole is: litotes. Litotes is when you down play something, like falling seven stories is bound to be uncomfortable. I realize that I read examples all the time in books and had no idea what they were called.
So my mother stated she didn't want a funeral because it would break her heart if my sister was willing to eat with my brother after my mother dies, but not while she lives.
After two hours of talking her down, she asked my to call her in a few days so she didn't do anything drastic (like throwing out all my sister's pictures and pretending she had only two children). She called back a few hours later, sounding much better. She decided to leave the whole thing to God, which made her feel better, so that's all good.
I read an interesting essay the other day. It's about happiness and other people's expectations of what that mean when it comes to choosing not to have children. Would Virginia Woolf have really been a happier person if she'd had kids and written fewer works? Or would she have just raised several miserable children? And the fact a person counted as selfish if they don't want children (personally, I'd be more likely to call them selfish if they do, not a bad selfish, but selfish none the less unless the kids are adopted).
But the thing I took away from the whole thing was that happiness should never be the be-all-end-all because happy people never change the world.
Also I found out what an opposite of hyperbole is: litotes. Litotes is when you down play something, like falling seven stories is bound to be uncomfortable. I realize that I read examples all the time in books and had no idea what they were called.