It was an interesting Thanksgiving at the Thurber household this year... Brendan's fiance's family came over, which was a shock to many- my parents don't have guests on a regular basis so this promised to be interesting. It went well, and after they went home, I got to work asking about numerous family photos I'd assembled from relatives. A winner was the 1977 image below, taken that Christmas.
I am number 20, and apparently I'd created some sort of situation, as you can see my aunt, mother and grandmother (1, 15 and 16, respectively) were trying to corral 2-year-old-me into behaving.
I got some decent advice on "the book", as I'm calling it. I've found some online printing services and have some sort of organization for chapters and stories. It's still feeling sparse, though, and I wonder if printing the first edition would spark others into adding stories and pictures to fill in the obvious holes.
So here's a question for the masses: At what point are the black sheep in the flock allowed to be known? Do I wait until they're dead? Until their children are dead? Case in point is number 31, who not only gave Dad his first beer, but became a reverend and later had biblical relations with young homeless girls (thus erasing him from the family forever...until I showed up). Should sins be allowed to fade into history, or should they be kept alive as part of the story?
What do you think?
I'll probably live to regret this, but I'm goin' for full disclosure here. Not necessarily for minor transgressions... "Uncle Bob occasionally had a couple extra Buds" or "Aunt Selma made a fruitcake which everyone hated". But sexual harassment or molestation should not be swept under anyone's rug. If it was enough to get him blackballed from future family gatherings it should rate a mention.
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