Flashback Friday: Sea of Negativity

Sea of Negativity first appeared in August of 2004.

As a family they swam in a sea of negativity. Located just two blocks down and three blocks across from the sea of tranquility.

Mama lives for her soap operas, live or on Tivo. Her tables are cluttered with various publications monitoring the personal and/or professional lives of her favorite characters/actors.

When she is not watching she does her best to create a living soap opera within her own four walls. Tranquility has no meaning within her personal dictionary. Every event by her design becomes a mini drama.

Several years ago her son was diagnosed with a common yet curable form of cancer. Reason for concern yes, reason for obsession no. She thrived on discussing his illness with anyone who would listen.

"My son, you know my son? No. No matter. Wonderful boy has a terrible illness. Cancer. Doctors say he will be fine but what do they know. And the stress let me tell you about the stress I am under. Going to the doctors. Going to the hospital and back to the doctors. And does my ungrateful son appreciate me. No. Just today I visited his home and he asked me to leave. He said he was tired and needed to rest. Can you imagine asking your own mother to leave? I was only going to stay long enough to straighten the house, wash the dishes, and cook some meals for him. "

On and on she can go a marathon of words concerning her son.

Don't mention her husband or you will really get her started.

Married for forty-five years and she claims to have been happy once or twice but cannot for the life of her quite remember the year. Her husband is no good she says. He cheats on her and moves out for months at a time. She loves him though and always takes him back. Never questions him. The more damage he does to the marriage the happier she is. Provides her with grist for the gossip mill she shares with the girls between commercials.

Now the husband would say he strays because she is impossible to live with. Everything must be an issue. Nothing can be simple.

This complaint of course flows from the mouth of the king of complications. He never misses a short cut or a scam. He is first in the line to collect a freebie and cannot be found when a bill is due.

Each morning he springs from bed with big plans for making millions, each evening he goes to bed a day shorter and not a dollar wiser. He has alienated every close friend he ever had with get rich schemes that have gone awry. He wanders into grocery stores and shop lifts for the thrill of it, despite the twenties he has stashed in his pocket.

This moment in time is never enough he is always searching the horizon for the rainbow he believes is his due. Not to mention the pot of gold. Though while wallowing in the mire of his own creation he cannot afford a pot to piss in.

Their daughter lives her life as a woman scorned. Nose in the air she expects prince charming to fall at her feet with pockets overflowing with rubies. She is oblivious to the attitude she projects and the scorn being tossed like a football behind her back.

In her eyes it is her world and she is only allowing the human race to borrow her playground for a short while.

Like her father she believes in instant gratification and feels it is beneath her station to work for anything. Also like her father she believes that the opposite sex is just a tool for use, that can be easily be disposed of. Though unlike the father she has a little flame still burning in her soul that prevents her from doing so.

What she does though is somehow worse.

She met and married her first husband with in a week. She says it was so he could get his papers to stay here in the US. However, everyone knew the real reason. Ten years and two kids later they were divorced. Like everything else this family does they botched the divorce. Unable to agree on custody he kept the son and she kept the daughter. Clueless about the work required for a successful marriage or divorce for that matter, she has only succeeded in creating another dysfunctional generation in a long line of dysfunctional generations.

One week after the divorce was final she married the boyfriend of the nanny who had cared for their children. The excuse being that he needed his papers but of course everyone just kind of smiled and went about their business without question.

Now five years later that marriage has also imploded. This time she was smart enough not to have children. However even in the ruin of a doomed marriage she is waffling not sure if she should follow through or not.

The son having recovered from cancer floats on a sea of listlessness. He has been in college for twelve years and does not possess enough credits to graduate.

He has never married and cannot even lay claim to a permanent address. Sometimes he can be found at his mothers, other times at his sisters, never in one place for long before restlessness sets in.

When the four of them are together you can cut the tension with a knife. The room is filled with negative energy. Their conversations, it has been noted, has a similar affect on ones brain as the sound of nails on chalkboards does. Everyone speaks at once. No one listens. Foul language rules the table. If a comment slips out with a lack of negative connotations it is not from a lack of effort.

All in all these are people who are only happy when they embrace their own unhappiness. They continue to grow and thrive in a sea of negativity.