Search Results: take it slowly

My parents and I moved to Texas from Connecticut in 2018 and we're now able to see family much more regularly. I've grown tired of it though as there's no chemistry between me and them most of the time. My cousin and her husband and kids, I have good chemistry with and we can talk for hours. But my immediate family, all they want to do is sit and listen to horrible music from the 70s and get hammered drunk.

It's also a 90 minute drive to get to where they live and when I arrive, it's like I'm a ghost, they just want me there for the sake of being there. Then after an hour or so, I leave to go back before they get drunk so I won't have to deal with that. There's a ranch as well that we go to but it's 4 hours away and they do the same thing there. Sometimes they let me and my cousin's husband shoot guns on the range and my uncle even took me hunting 4 times in the past 4 years I've been here.

It's very pretty there but then coworkers soon show up and start getting drunk, then it all goes downhill from there. I work 55 hours per week in a job at my uncle's construction company but i don't make much and rent is literally 4× what it was in 2019 and continuing to increase well beyond what my job will allow me to afford. I'm taking steps to start a career in LE and I'll be able to slowly but surely transition into my own home by then.

The juice isn't worth the squeeze, if you can even call it that since I don't find enjoyment in spending time with them sitting down. I often go to the bathroom but after doing so, I go to my car and leave and nobody really notices. I didn't go to the ranch for Christmas or Easter. The only person I really want in my life right now is my girlfriend, I've even gone as far as muting all messages besides her. A medication change in late 2021 has made me much more assertive and ready to stand my ground and not let them manipulate me into doing something I don't want to do.

Do you like family gatherings?