Strategy #4: Become a Participant Observer
(cont.)
Queen for a Day
Prior to a family function, arrange to meet with at
least two friends—more, if possible—after the holidays. You'll each tell the
stories of your respective family get-togethers, then vote to see whose
experience was most horrendous. That person will then be crowned queen, and the
others will buy her lunch.
Comedy Club
In this exercise, you look to your family not for love and
understanding but for comedy material. Watch closely. The more atrocious your
family's behavior is, the funnier it can be in the retelling. Watch stand-up
comics to see the enormous fun they can have describing appalling marriages,
ghastly parenting, or poisonous family secrets. When you're back among friends,
telling your own wild stories, you may find that you no longer suffer from your
family's brand of insanity; you've actually started to enjoy it.
