Family Politics in the Midwest

Mira and I took Teague back to the Olde Midwestern Homestead of her in-laws last week. In fact, we both have roots in the Midwest, though we did not meet there, nor do we live there now. I'm always amazed to scan through the real estate listings when we visit Mira's parents, comparing these prices to the insanity of urban living and the massively inflated prices that we pay for 1500 sq ft in the city. And so I have these occasional fantasies of selling out, leaving the urban fold and doubling (or tripling!) our living space in some shady, suburban oasis full of biking kids and summer lawns. But then, what would Teague do without the constant background symphony of sirens, screaming hallucinating transients, roaring motorcycles, howling car alarms, and the rest of the cacophany that you just get accustomed to after living here a while? In fact, one of the earliest "tricks" that Teague could do was to wave at city buses as they roared by. He quickly learned to associate even the diesel and pneumatic sounds of the bus with this required waving, and so even if a bus is not visible but can be heard, Teague will begin waving madly. Now, I never realized until Teague began this waving routine, just how many buses there are hauling around our city. Buses seem to go by our house practically every 5 minutes, with Teague waving at the sound of nearly every one.

But I was saying, we were in the Midwest visiting the in-laws. The occasion was that of Mira's parent's 45th wedding anniversary, and so 3 of Mira's 4 siblings were in attendance to celebrate along with all the spouses and children. Rule number one was supposed to be "No Political Discussions" because that might ruin the special occasion by allowing typical, warped and partisan bickering. There is a political divide running through Mira's family, with half of the family on the conservative side of Catholicism, thus resulting in a "one issue" kind of voter (i.e. abortion) . This side cheers for that spunky Sara Palin and prays for a more conservative Supreme Court. The other half of the family falls into a rough category I'll call "Lefty Catholics", for whom war and poverty are more serious issues in this country much moreson than that of abortion. And so, the "No Politics" mandate results often in the two halves of the family sitting in different rooms talking politics in partisan groups. And of course, political discussions DID happen despite the rule and were mostly ridiculous, like Mira arguing with her Mom about whether Michelle Obama is elegant or not. During argument Mira said, "How can you say that Mom? She's absolutely beautiful!". Mira's Mom replied, "Oh no, that woman's not elegant! She looks like a TIGER"

When these conversations begin, I quickly vacate the room. I don't really see too much hope in having reasonable political discussions within families that are so polarized, and of course we've seen this before in my own family (dear old Dad) and in previous posts. And so I typically took Teague into another room to play with blocks and books while Mira and family would get nowhere, circumlocuting, bloviating, and getting worked up over nothing and everything in politics and religion. Well, I guess it is testament to strong family ties that we all walked out of there without anyone having hurt feelings or really bad memories. I sure will be glad to have this election behind us though.

And so I guess we'll be staying in the big city for now with no suburban moves planned until we have to look seriously at schools for Teague. The politics and culture of the city suits me well. I have rural, and even mountainous fantasies, but they will have to wait.