grandparents

ProudParenting blogger - wpsegura - shares his story of being adopted at age 2.

Most families feel obliged to make occasional trips to grandparents who live far away, and in this time of economic uncertainty, vacationing at their home is certainly the frugal alternative to Europe or the Caribbean. And some grandparents really do want you to come. They may even cough up plane tickets to sweeten the pot and go out of their way to deliver a rip-roaring good time for their grandchildren.

But other grandparents only say they want you. They never really expected you to accept an invitation. And the minute you, your partner, and children pull up to the house, their ambivalence kicks in. They’re thinking,Oh, God, how are we going to get through a whole week? Can we just give them the keys and we’ll go to Europe? and you’re thinking, If they lived in California, they would have voted for Prop 8. They are the enemy. Why are we here?”

At some point during most children's elementary years (usually it’s the third grade), they study the many peoples who poured into "this great country of ours" via ports like Ellis and Angel Island to escape poverty, famine, and that “p” word gay people know so much about—persecution.

The election is only days away. Imagine for a moment that Barack has won the Whitehouse. (It’s okay. Hope doesn’t jinx him. Only voter fraud can do that.) What’s next?

• The Republican Party is in shambles.
• The Electoral College map has shifted historically.
• Neo-Conservative foreign policy ends abruptly.
• Theo-Conservative rhetoric is relegated to angry, bitter direct mail fundraising newsletters and mega-church sermons to the already converted.
• Pocketbook Republicans check their fund statements on an hourly basis and take anti-depressants.
• And the rest of us cheer for the first time in years.

And what happens to Dick Cheney when he says goodbye to the Beltway?