Family Feuds.....Be Honest We All Have Them....

This blog entry is being written as a challenge from my older brother......OK George here goes.....

Anyone who says they don't have fights, disagreements or differences of opinions in their family.....is full of crap!!!

I wish oh how I wish at least once Norman Rockwell would have done a cover for "The Saturday Evening Post" showing a family not with their heads bowed in prayer but in a good old family fight.

While some of us would never admit to quarreling with our families......guess what.....although we all don't know what goes on behind others closed doors......let's be honest.....every has had a family fight.

Being Italian I think means we can take fights to a whole different level.  We yell and scream, we bring up things that happened years ago, we divide up the family and then at some point we make up.

My Dad was not a yeller......he could convey his feelings in a very low voice or with a look over his eyeglasses.  Mom was a yeller....so am I (we have got to get that gene out of the petri dish).

I am super sensitive so I get my feeling hurt a lot!!

Now, it is important to remember we can fight among ourselves but Lord help the person who picks on the family.  Then we become a united group and you don't want to screw with the family.

My Mom had a friend we called Papa John.  I think part of the reason he came to family events was for sheer entertainment.  He was there on an occasion where a family feud broke out.  It was on a holiday.  The argument started at one of the family members houses.  Later that day we were supposed to meet at another family members house.  Much to Papa John's amazement and entertainment, the whole family showed up and acted as if nothing had happened earlier in the day.

This week my brother,George, and I had words. It started over a picture on Facebook and me calling him at almost midnight to tell him what I thought of his comment on FB.  Then the war began.....there were nasty posts back and forth.  I was on the phone with my sister at almost 1:00AM asking her to call another family member in NY to ask her to remove the original post.

I was sure George and I would not speak again for a long time.  I felt I had the advantage since my birthday was before his so he would have to break down and call me first....LOL.

Then I got a call from my cousin, Pat, we talked about a lot of things but none having to do with the FB feud of the two oldest Raboni siblings.  At the end of the conversation he said, "Donna, stop fighting with your brother."  I asked how he knew??? Duh....  He said his wife, April, had seen some of the posts and said to him, "I think Georgie and Donna are fighting".  Thank you FB !!!!!

So I thought about it......and thought....and thought.  I decided to call George on my way from from work.  If he still mad oh well at least I tried and he would have to call me for my birthday in November.

He answered the phone and I said "hi".  Then we both started to explain our side of the story.  Before I knew it we were laughing and making stupid jokes about how asinine we had both been.We then discussed some of the other classic family feuds that have taken place over the years,  DO NOT worry I am sure not bringing them up here!!!!!

We hung up saying "I love you" to each other.....like we always do.  I am sure some shrink would have a field day with us.......we love deeply and are very passionate about almost everything.

My Mom once told me I was a street fighter like my Dad and I would go straight for the jugular any chance I got.....she is right.......I don't like to fight but watch out if you pick on me or Jenn.......especially Jenn......I can get ugly.  I am not proud of it but that's just the way I am.........

Well, the dust has settled and George and I are speaking again.......not too bad......pretty short fight........we have known to go days, weeks and months without speaking.

Maybe it's getting older, maybe it's knowing our time together is precious, maybe its just the need to get things off our chest and move on.......

I blame it on being Italian......even a normal conversation can sound like a fight to outsiders since we tend to yell and talk over each other......

So George this is the blog you challenged me to write.......I hope it meets up to your standards......if it doesn't......kiss off.......oh and AMF!!

Love you big bro........