Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. I think experiences are as varied as we Americans are. Where I grew up, we didn't have any kind of blue laws. Everything was open Sunday, especially the bars. It is Wisconsin after all. If all the bars would have closed, people would have rioted. Where do you think they headed right after church? When I was a kid, we all went to church and I and my two younger sisters also went to Sunday School. We all were confirmed in the church when we were 14 (Lutheran-Wisconsin Synod). We usually went somewhere to eat lunch, or went shopping.
There were very few family reunions I went to as a kid. The few we went to seemed to degenerate into drunken insults and fights. There were a lot of people who I didn't even know at these reunions. We kids would warily watch the adults continue to get drunker as time went on. Then it was time to leave. The last one I went to, there was a family tree put together on a large board. I found out looking at that family tree that my Dad was not my biological father. Surprise! We never went to another one. I was 14 at the time. My parents sat me down and told me everything. I was finally legally adopted by my Dad when I was 15. He was there from the beginning, when I was just a baby. There are dads, and there are sperm donors. I tried to put it all behind me, but it was more difficult for my sisters (half sisters). Have I ever mentioned that I hate surprises?
My last Navy duty station was in Norfolk VA, which had a blue law. This was 1987. It was ridiculous. I stopped going to church after my confirmation, and I thought that a city of 350,000 people having a blue law was bullshit. They finally got rid of it in 1990 or so.
My family is more scattered now. My husband is gone. I actually spent my first Thanksgiving in the weeks after he died at my neighbors house across the street with their family. I felt accepted and happy. We were very close. I could go over to their house any time, grab a key from their back porch, and use their hot tub. It's great to have neighbors like that. They moved back to Virginia a few months ago, and I really miss them.
I try to get to my niece's and nephew's happenings. Two of my nieces live out of state, one lives about 150 miles south of me. My nephew is a 10 minute drive away, so I have been to multiple baby showers and birthdays. He has a two year old son and his wife is pregnant with twin boys, due in a few weeks. Family can mean many things. Now on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I go up to my youngest sister's house. Sometimes my parents are there, sometimes not. Otherwise most holidays are just texts. That's okay. I'm at the age where I just go with the flow.
There were very few family reunions I went to as a kid. The few we went to seemed to degenerate into drunken insults and fights. There were a lot of people who I didn't even know at these reunions. We kids would warily watch the adults continue to get drunker as time went on. Then it was time to leave. The last one I went to, there was a family tree put together on a large board. I found out looking at that family tree that my Dad was not my biological father. Surprise! We never went to another one. I was 14 at the time. My parents sat me down and told me everything. I was finally legally adopted by my Dad when I was 15. He was there from the beginning, when I was just a baby. There are dads, and there are sperm donors. I tried to put it all behind me, but it was more difficult for my sisters (half sisters). Have I ever mentioned that I hate surprises?
My last Navy duty station was in Norfolk VA, which had a blue law. This was 1987. It was ridiculous. I stopped going to church after my confirmation, and I thought that a city of 350,000 people having a blue law was bullshit. They finally got rid of it in 1990 or so.
My family is more scattered now. My husband is gone. I actually spent my first Thanksgiving in the weeks after he died at my neighbors house across the street with their family. I felt accepted and happy. We were very close. I could go over to their house any time, grab a key from their back porch, and use their hot tub. It's great to have neighbors like that. They moved back to Virginia a few months ago, and I really miss them.
I try to get to my niece's and nephew's happenings. Two of my nieces live out of state, one lives about 150 miles south of me. My nephew is a 10 minute drive away, so I have been to multiple baby showers and birthdays. He has a two year old son and his wife is pregnant with twin boys, due in a few weeks. Family can mean many things. Now on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I go up to my youngest sister's house. Sometimes my parents are there, sometimes not. Otherwise most holidays are just texts. That's okay. I'm at the age where I just go with the flow.