Yikes.

It's kind of strange to report that I left my brother's house more stressed than when I left my parents' this time around. Here's the story.

I left my house at eight this morning, and did my walking and errands before heading to Maryland, arriving at my brother's house at about two o'clock. I could tell right from the start that Inese had changed considerably since I last saw her, in August of 2008.

Josie opened her gift from me (a Playmobil animal clinic), and loved it. I got down on the floor and started assembling the various components of the playset. Kari was talking about how Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins had broken up, and I mentioned that Susan Sarandon was in a sketch from "Saturday Night Live" called "Motherlover". Inese started in on how society was going to hell in a handbasket, and how offended she was. Somehow, this escalated into a war of words with Kyle, and when she said something about "If your mother was still living..." my brother completely exploded, screaming, "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT MY MOTHER! YOU NEVER KNEW HER!" and such things.

Josie, ever the peacemaker, was trying to calm them down, saying things like, "Mimi, Daddy, it's okay" and things like that. Later on, Inese was talking about how much their wedding cost her and Ralph, and how Kari is the main breadwinner in the family, and how Kyle had no ambition. These are all things that she had no business saying, and that she would not have said if the stroke she had in March hadn't destroyed whatever part of her brain controls her mouth. She was not at all pleased when Kari took Kyle's side, and told Inese how hard she was making it on both of them.

Basically, I just kept my mouth shut and kept on assembling the playset. But in all of my thirty-eight years of knowing Kyle, I have never heard him blow up like that. I was able to tell how stressed he was as soon as I got there, though, so it was probably inevitable.

The drama did not end there. A little later on, Kari's brother and family (including a four-month old puppy) arrived. I hadn't seen them since Josie's first birthday, and yes, Barbara is still a ditz. She was far nicer to me than she had been before, but Kyle, Peter, and the boys withdrew to watch football, and the women were sniping at each other, leaving me just sitting there and looking pretty.

After dinner (which was a marvelous affair), everyone gathered to open each other's gifts, so I just decided it was time to go. I wanted to get home and shower and relax, but mostly I wanted to call my aunt and tell her about all that had happened today. I needed someone sane to talk to, basically.

I loaned my copies of the "South Park" movie and "Brüno" to them. If it had been a less stressful time for Kyle and Kari, I would have told them that they were being loaned on the condition that I will see them soon to get them back. I thought better of it, though.

But now, it is time to go to bed. I am working tomorrow and Tuesday, and I am determined to go to Freddie's on Tuesday night. I don't have any real expectations of anything; I just want to go have a drink and sing. So let's hope for a good day tomorrow and see what it brings.

And to think...I was all set to do a year-end retrospective about two weeks ago, but things keep on happening, don't they? I'd better wait until New Year's Eve to do that.

Eric Out.