My uncle visited tonight. He criticizes everyone, but he seems to hold a special place for me in his nonexistent heart. He kept telling me how worthless everyone thought I was. Because I wasn't in the mood to argue, I decided to just leave. But then my dad walked in all heroic and lashed out at my uncle. My dad is generally a calm guy, so seeing him screaming at my uncle was priceless. And by priceless, I mean the scared-as-shit look on my uncle's face. My uncle left without saying anything else. My dad then lectured me on the importance of standing up for myself, and said that he was proud of me. I gave my dad a well-deserved hug. I love my dad.
I had an event like this today (and honestly it should go in the other thread, but whatevs) but with my aunt today. We were at a family gathering, and the subject of me going to the Navy came up in conversation with my aunt, mom, and grandma, since I'm leaving in a month.
Instead of a polite "Good luck with your decision" (regardless of how she personally feels about military service), she rambled on and on about how many people die and come home in bodybags and suffer PTSD and shoot their wives and fictional wars and the year 2012 and she finished it off with a nice "I wouldn't let my son do it".
It was pretty shitty to hear, but it wouldn't have been so bad if; she didn't say all of that in front of my mother and my grandmother and; she knew what the hell she was talking about and wasn't factually
wrong in her conversation and arguments in every single topic she discussed in the above.
Actually she's pretty lucky she got away with saying all that she did given my mothers temper and her likihood of throwing people out the window who say the wrong thing at the wrong time.