Part of that I get to blame on my wedded family. My rents-in-law came to visit and we all stayed at my wife's aunt's place where we ate too much, slept too little, and had fun to the point of exhaustion. I love my in-laws, but it takes a significant investment in caffeine to keep up with them. Part of this is that the family is separated by 400 miles.
The other part is culture. I'll explain.
My Angel's family is from the middle east. Ethnically they are Persian (having originated from Iran); nationally they are American. Whereas most people would think these cultures contradictory, they do in fact tend to multiply certain aspects of each other when they line up.
For example: Americans like to eat. Persians have some of the most amazing cuisine, ever, plus they are used to cooking for an empire (a little "enough to feed an army" joke there - sorry, I'm tired). Multiply these together and you have things like "dinner" and "breakfast" turning into two-hour long feasts filled with an abundance of food, flying forks, flailing limbs and more simultaneous voices than a Catholic Choir. And the food is so good - because, thank GOD, I married into a family of excellent traditional Persian cooks - that just when you think that another bite will result in critical injury, you realize that there is something else on the table that you haven't tried yet or some combination of flavors that has yet to be discovered by your bland, hamburger and hot dog taste buds! And the leftovers? My father-in-law will do everything short of cramming them manually down my gullet to make sure that I have "gotten enough to eat". They call this "taroufing"; where they will insist until the sun rises, politely and like a good host mind you, that you are lying through your saffron-stained teeth when you say that any more food and they will have to roll you away from the table with a bulldozer.
Another example: Americans love to talk. Persians love to talk. As I mentioned before, this usually results in a cacophony of conversations that stockbrokers on Wall Street couldn't contend with. The most impacted part of conversation though are the goodbyes. Persians are the only culture I know that can say "goodbye" and start a new conversation in one breath - it's like a Jedi mind trick or something; no gap, it just slips right in there. Like a ninja. People think I'm joking when I say I have to start the farewells at least a half hour before I leave; the truth is, sometimes that's underestimating it!
Now I am blessed in that virtually all of the of worst aspects of the stereotypical Southern California Persian culture is not found in my wedded family. I have found the best slices of traditional Persian culture in my in-laws and my wife. Dedication, loyalty, family, support, and spirituality (not to be confused with the Islamic religious institution; I'll explain my beliefs another time). Gotta love it!
That and the food is DAMN GOOD!
Did I mention that I like the food?
Food...
3 comments:
Your in laws sound like my mother. I gain no less than ten pounds everytime I go home because every meal ends with "Oh just have a little more"
You sound like a very lucky man and a very full (appetite) man, good for you!
Alas this is what happens with good friends/family. You eat and drink and talk...don't sleep. It really is the best of times. And now I'm hungry.
Are they Assyrian? A young Assyrian woman worked in our office for about a year, and she was smokin' hot. So, as much as I want you to, don't post a photo of your wife. I'm just not ready for that yet.
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