Blood Red Sky

Blood:   Parental heritage; family line; lineage; passion, temperament, or disposition.

Bad blood and blood baths committed in cold blood make my blood run cold.  Not me.  I'm not going to have blood on my hands.  They say that blood is thicker than water but I wonder if this is literal or just an expression.  It seems a little thicker when it comes out of my body but I usually pass out so quickly I can't be sure.  The word "blood" starts to look weird if you write it a whole bunch of times.  

Anyway, the point is that family matters are generally not going to go away.  Many of us have great families or good ones at least -- average people making their way as best as they can.  Some of us have crappy families, ill suited to handle the ups and downs of life.  And there are some real nightmare cases out there that make our blood run cold: alcoholism and abuse and addiction.  Mostly, our families are like us: folks with no operating manual trying to lurch forward.   God knows I was no piece of cake when I was active and I don't mean to imply I'm a piece of cake today, either.  Maybe a cupcake or an iced cookie, but definitely not a piece of cake.

If someone treated me like I treat myself I would toss this guy out of a moving car, over a tall cliff. I'm horrible to myself more often that I care to admit.  I wouldn't put up with it coming from another person.  And my family doesn't always treat me all that well, either, and I have a pretty good family. I think all of us take some liberties with our closest relationships and all of us are going to make mistakes from time to time with people who are around us so much.  If someone I've recently met treats me like crap, I move on.  Not an option with family, or a much more difficult decision to make.

Here's what often comes out when one of the Horsefaces is having family problems: "You're the one with the program."  

Some days I don't want to have a program.  Some days I just want to load up and let 'er rip, burn some bridges, devastate some crops.