(Distant) Family Members & "Friends"

This is one that needed to be written! How many of you have family that you only see when when a family member dies? It's like "who the hell are all you people, and how do you know big mama?" I many times get the feeling that these people (freeloaders?) only came by because they wanted some of that repass food, or they need to borrow some money. Typically, these are the same people who for whatever half-assed excuse they can come up with won't help you, and if the price is high enough, will sell you out at the drop of a hat! Don't think for a minute that your friends wouldn't do the same thing to you!

Exhibit A:



The source of the sharp pain I feel in my back

Story Time!!

Back some 20+ years I believe it was, my sister inadvertently got into some "beef" with people in school, who happened to be family (I guess, i dunno?). Anyway, she said something in confidence to a friend of hers and this friend promptly told this other girl the truth (in a bald-headed lie sorta way), and this girl (and her cousins) were going to confront her, but I jumped in, so they backed off. Years later, I learned this side of the family has had beef with our side of the family for basically eons. They still don't talk to us as readily as they do anyone else, and we see them every sunday in church! In God's house, y'all! Lemme divulge yet another example:

Back on April Fool's Day 1998, a tornado destroyed my aunt and uncle's house, killing both my aunt and my 13-week-old cousin. My uncle went to go check on my grandfather (my grandmother had died in the same home exactly 3 months earlier), and when he went back to check on his wife and son, the house was gone. A few days before the funeral, this other side of our family for the first time ever, came over to our house en masse to express their condolences. I wasn't (and still aren't) at all convinced of their "sincerity". Some of the people who showed up and were supposedly friends of the family, could only comment on how good the chicken was! Unbelievable!

You know what I think? I think that the only reason that they came over was to see if we were as miserable as they'd thought we'd be; something bad finally happened to our side of the family! It's been 11 years since this happened and they haven't interacted much with us at all. Hmmm...

Exhibit B:



My parting message for those who think being this way is ok

Your family and friends are supposed to be some of the only people you can trust in this world to have your back no matter what. You better be careful about who you deal with in this life.

This one time back in 2003, we had a family reunion and my (brand) new 300 dollar cell phone was stolen, here of all places! If you can't trust your family, who the hell are you supposed to be able to trust?!