The Game Of Life Has No Winners

You know the things that parents do that you say you're never going to do? And then you do them? Why is that? And how can you stop the cycle of insanity?

Example A: Old people (aka, your parents when they retire) drive 30 miles out of their way to get gas because it's 3 cents per gallon cheaper. Think about this, and do the math. They spend more in gas getting there and back than they save on gas in the first place. This makes no sense, yet they not only continue doing this but tell all their friends to do the same.

My husband and I say all the time that when we catch the other doing a classic Old Person move, we're to just slap that significant other back to sanity. That'll work, right?

One of my favorite things is when my mom talks about people that I don't know.

"You know Aunt So-And-So." 

No, I don't. 

"She's the one at the reunions with the gray hair and 3 kids." 

I don't go to reunions. I don't know anyone there. 

"If you'd go to reunions you'd know these people." 

I did go to reunions. Nobody talked to me and you didn't introduce me to anyone. I don't know Aunt So-And-So. 

"Oh. Anyway, Aunt So-And-So was at the store and..."

Like I care, because I don't even know this person. But mom goes on regardless because she knows this person, so clearly I do as well. Except I don't. I've sworn to not do this to my kids, and I don't. Except life has a way of backfiring on you for seeking revenge on the wrongs of your parents because revenge seeking is never a profitable profession. I have, in an effort to not berate my children for not knowing someone they only met when they were less than one year old, have never mentioned these kind of people to them. I think back in my mind to how and when I knew whoever I was going to talk about, and if I realize that my children just wouldn't remember them, I don't bring that person up. Or if it's a funny story, I'll just say "we have this friend who..." And in so doing, my kids know nobody.

There is no win in life, is there? You know that thing your parents do that you say you're never going to do? You might just want to go ahead and do it, because you'll only create your own brand of parental weirdness if you don't follow the family footsteps.