It's interesting to me that I'm realizing as I write these posts that my family is actually driving me away from them and making me desire to never have to deal with any of them ever again once I get back out on my own...and the whole reason is that they can't just sit back, relax, and let me run my own life. None of them are "bad" people and most of them mean well, but my whole life has been spent trying not to displease them.

It's not just the things that *I* do that matters to them...it even relates to people in my life. If I dated somebody with a tattoo or piercing I'd have to hide it from them to avoid their judgment. If I dated outside of my race, I would have to hide it from them because the fact that my dad grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere means that I have to pretend it's 1940. I'm pretty sure that if I dated somebody who was a little bit overweight, I would hear about it from them. I have a family member who unknowingly dated a person who was bipolar and when they found out, they asked my parents for advice, and the advice was to dump them! All I can say is, that person sure dodged a bullet by not marrying into our family!

I hope it's ok that I'm just telling these stories and venting here. It feels good!