Family Role

When your parents tell you something you want to trust and believe what they say. The view of my mothers about the Chandler's has always made me question her. Since both sides of my family are strange in many ways, the way each of them act is totally different. My fathers side, not very wealthy growing up, is the big family of 7. As children they would all sleep in the same room which was the attic of their house. When they get together they said it was like 7 wild animals roaming the house. Also, their cousins the 7 Kelly children would also join their herd. No wonder they turned out the way they did. Their dinners would always be of lima beans and bread. On the other side of my family, my mother's side was also big with 5 children, but they were all brought up proper and always following the rules. My mother's view on the world around her is much different than my father's.
When I was younger I wasn't very close with many of the Chandlers because my mom did not think I would learn anything good from them. My dad was supposedly the only "normal" one to her because he was the only child that graduated from college. My mom thinks this way about them til this day. It upsets me because now that I have grown up and have realized my mom still views them the same way, it makes me want to get closer with all of them. I am one of the middle grandchildren so I get along with my older cousins. I have a lot in common with them and they know the real me. They know that I am just like my father who keeps to myself, but also the one that believes that you have to take care whatever your dealt . It's my mothers hatred for the Chandler side that pushes me closer to their open arms. They accept me even when I have faults.
When Karr mentions the American Legion and her time spent there, I have memories just like her. The Chandlers are all about the legion. My uncle Donny spends every waking moment at the Legion, even Christmas Day. It is where I have grown up. I remember seeing a picture of me (2 years old) and my cousin Mark (9 years old) during an Easter egg hunt at the Legion the only one that I would be aloud to participate in. My mother didn't find it suitable for me to be down there. My father always relaxed with anything so he would sneak me down to the legion at any age. During every summer I would always run down there from my house because of the small town everything is so close, that I would always find my grandpa smoking a cigarette in the basement when he knows he shouldn't be, or the bartender saying hi to me while kicking some drunk out at noon. I had my first beer in Milford Legion with my Chandler cousins. My mother still doesn't know that fact. Whatever I did with the Chandler's it was always kept from my mother. The legion was like a safe haven from her. I don't understand how my father can listen to her complain about his family? He sits there just facing the t.v. or reads the newspaper without looking up.