Is Yelling Love?

I just got back from a great trip to see my cousin in North Carolina. My cousin is more like an older sister to me and it has been a few years since we caught up so it was definitley good to see her. While I was there, however, I noticed something very different about her and her family. They are the Yelling Family. You know, the family that seems to live on the edge at all times so that when something mildly disagreeable happens, all hell breaks loose...yes, the yelling family. Well, apparently, some people live in this daily environment and still love eachother, settle down at the end of the day to watch a movie together, and act as if they were not cussing each other out earlier. I started looking around and realized that many of my married or partnered couple friends live like this. (As a single guy, I live pretty drama free.) My first thought was: Why is everyone yelling?

Is this what modern love looks like? To be quite honest, I'm not sure I want to be a part of that. And while I was grateful that they felt close enough to me to be open and honest, rather than put on a show, I would have appreciated a bit of forced smiles and explative depression.

It really got me thinking. Why are we so much nicer to strangers and people we first meet? Well clearly because we don't want them to think bad of us. But what about our family? What must they think? I know we want to be "real" with them, but is it hurting our relationships?

We do take our family for granted. My challenge to you this week is to make sure you are as nice to your family as you are to a customer at work. As for being real, BE REAL, but do so and treat your loved ones as if they are truly your loved ones.

Taking people for granted is easy. Living with the regret of taking them for granted is not.