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My Changing Parents
Mar. 8th, 2004 12:29 pmPart of me feels I should write my weekend update. How much fun I have dancing around when I work with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
labmouse42. And how much fun I had with barbutterfly at Studio Z friday night dancing old 80's hip-hop like White Lines and Humpty Dance. But right now, I can not get out of my head how disturbed I am.
Last night I talked to my dad. Now, for a lot of people, getting disturbed starts there. Not so much with me. My parents have always been great and we have always gotten along wonderfully, minus the regular things here and there. When talking to my dad, I found out he against same sex marriages. He seemed to think the offer of Civil Unions was an overly kind offer and thinking those in the gay community who want to get married have are being snide by turning it down. He said "they just want to legitimize their lifestyle". I said "Why wouldn't they?"
Its hard for those who don't know to know how disturbing this is for me. I have never had a fight like this with my dad. Its not disturbing because we have never discussed it, its disturbing because 10 years ago he would have been on the other side of the argument. Whole heartedly. 10 years ago he was a different person. 20 years ago he was a different race of human being. My mother too.
My dad used to be a radio disc jockey. My mother was a belly dancer, going to nursing school. When they were young and first married, they packed everything the owned into the back of a VW Bug and took off. They moved dozens of times in half as many years. They have gone to Mardi Gras to the Endymion almost every year of my life. I came home from school one day to find a note written on the dry erase board - "Gone to Vegas. Be back sunday". They would go to Vegas a few times a year and still have standing guest privileges at Ballys. Once, they went to a poker competition at the Rawhide Saloon, and won, among other things, a matching pair of pearlescent snake skin boots. They took me to see a double feature of Flashdance and Valley Girl when I was not yet 10 (whenever that was), which by no means is the act of a conservative. My mom drinks 7&7s and, before bed, amaretto and milk, my dad drinks B52s. My mother used to laugh to her friends that I go through boys and break hearts by age 15. My mother used to go to "Cheeks", a male strip club, and bring me home the pint glasses. My mother was a counselor at a mental institute and a methadone clinic where her clients were, um, lets say the prostitutes and drug dealers were the straight laced ones. I never had a bed time or a curfew growing up. They never pushed me to do anything the right way, told my teachers to go to hell when they said I wouldn't "conform", encouraged me to write and act, and told my not to worry about homework if stressed me out. They told me there was no reason I had to do things the way anyone else did them. They were the opposite spectrum of conservative.
I noticed them becoming a bit conservative awhile ago as they got older. I figured that is to be expected in most people. But the level at which it is happening....
Really, it leaves me with little hope for anyone. It disturbs me not just because I am related to people who now think this way, but because of who they once were. They were once exactly, exactly, as I am now. Maybe a little less geeky, a little less annoying and a lot less generally angry. But they enjoyed good times, were open minded, and thought individuals should do what individuals will do no matter what.
What is happening to our world?
labmouse42. And how much fun I had with barbutterfly at Studio Z friday night dancing old 80's hip-hop like White Lines and Humpty Dance. But right now, I can not get out of my head how disturbed I am.Last night I talked to my dad. Now, for a lot of people, getting disturbed starts there. Not so much with me. My parents have always been great and we have always gotten along wonderfully, minus the regular things here and there. When talking to my dad, I found out he against same sex marriages. He seemed to think the offer of Civil Unions was an overly kind offer and thinking those in the gay community who want to get married have are being snide by turning it down. He said "they just want to legitimize their lifestyle". I said "Why wouldn't they?"
Its hard for those who don't know to know how disturbing this is for me. I have never had a fight like this with my dad. Its not disturbing because we have never discussed it, its disturbing because 10 years ago he would have been on the other side of the argument. Whole heartedly. 10 years ago he was a different person. 20 years ago he was a different race of human being. My mother too.
My dad used to be a radio disc jockey. My mother was a belly dancer, going to nursing school. When they were young and first married, they packed everything the owned into the back of a VW Bug and took off. They moved dozens of times in half as many years. They have gone to Mardi Gras to the Endymion almost every year of my life. I came home from school one day to find a note written on the dry erase board - "Gone to Vegas. Be back sunday". They would go to Vegas a few times a year and still have standing guest privileges at Ballys. Once, they went to a poker competition at the Rawhide Saloon, and won, among other things, a matching pair of pearlescent snake skin boots. They took me to see a double feature of Flashdance and Valley Girl when I was not yet 10 (whenever that was), which by no means is the act of a conservative. My mom drinks 7&7s and, before bed, amaretto and milk, my dad drinks B52s. My mother used to laugh to her friends that I go through boys and break hearts by age 15. My mother used to go to "Cheeks", a male strip club, and bring me home the pint glasses. My mother was a counselor at a mental institute and a methadone clinic where her clients were, um, lets say the prostitutes and drug dealers were the straight laced ones. I never had a bed time or a curfew growing up. They never pushed me to do anything the right way, told my teachers to go to hell when they said I wouldn't "conform", encouraged me to write and act, and told my not to worry about homework if stressed me out. They told me there was no reason I had to do things the way anyone else did them. They were the opposite spectrum of conservative.
I noticed them becoming a bit conservative awhile ago as they got older. I figured that is to be expected in most people. But the level at which it is happening....
Really, it leaves me with little hope for anyone. It disturbs me not just because I am related to people who now think this way, but because of who they once were. They were once exactly, exactly, as I am now. Maybe a little less geeky, a little less annoying and a lot less generally angry. But they enjoyed good times, were open minded, and thought individuals should do what individuals will do no matter what.
What is happening to our world?
