The Sunday Post [50]

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer! It's an opportunity to share news, post a recap for the previous week, showcase books, and highlight what's planned for the week ahead.

News:

Happy Father's Day, lovelies! I'm currently not speaking to my Dad (more on that in a minute), but my husband is a phenomenal father! Marriage is hard𑁋we've struggled over the years𑁋but he has always been there for our children. His love for them is apparent in everything he does, and I couldn't have asked for anyone better to share this life with. He's never too tired to play with them, or too frustrated to help with homework. He'll let the girls put bows in his hair and paint his toes. He lets our son climb all over him like a jungle gym, and ask endless questions about the world (sometimes the same question repeatedly). No matter what happens with the kids𑁋good or bad𑁋his words and actions always come from a place of love. Our monsters are so lucky to have him for a father. ❤

As for my Dad...

Reason #1: I didn't know my father was married before my mother, or that I had a half-sister, until I was in High School. My sister called one day and said, "Hey, can I talk to Dad?" and I had no idea what she was talking about. My parents had kept this HUGE SECRET𑁋a sibling𑁋from me and my brother for years. How crazy is that? Even once we learned about her and my father's first wife, we still didn't visit my half-sister, nor did she come to visit us. It was a very messed up situation. I'm going to be 31 in a few days, and I only recently (as in two days ago) tracked her down online and got in touch with her. 

Just think about that for a minute... I've had a sister for THIRTY ONE YEARS, and we are just now speaking and getting to know one another. I did meet her very briefly at a Thanksgiving several years ago, but I wouldn't have known who she was had she not introduced herself. I'd never even seen a picture of her before. I regret not getting her information then, but at the time I thought, "Oh, I'll just get it from Dad later." Well, every time I asked him for her address or phone number, he had some excuse for why he wasn't able to. Lame excuses. "Oh, I don't have it on me", or "I'll have to look when I get home." Thankfully, the internet loves to share people's personal information, and an old email address of hers was still active. 

I've discovered that my sister is a lovely, wonderful person. She's a mother! I have a nephew that's going to be a senior this year𑁋bananas! I can't believe I've missed out on so many milestones in her life, and that she hasn't been able to be there for mine (the birth of my children, college graduation, etc.). We're definitely not going to waste anymore time, and I've enjoyed staying up late getting to know this person that I should have known my entire life. 

Reason #2: My father is racist. It's so bad you guys, it's hard to talk to my parents. What makes it worse? My newly-found sister's husband is Black, and my nephew is biracial. That means my father's son-in-law and grandson are often on the receiving end of that racism, whether he "means it that way" or not. The other day I asked him how he could so casually use the N-word when his own family was diverse, and his response was simply, "And?" AND? I shouldn't have to explain this to him! I shouldn't have to tell my father why it's not okay to hate an entire group of people. 

I asked my mother if she could say, "Black lives matter," and do you know what she said? You've probably guessed by now, "ALL LIVES MATTER, LINDSI!" Again, I tried to explain the ignorance of this response, but then turned her hypocrisy around on her. My aforementioned half-sister was in and out of children's homes while she was growing up, and my parents didn't take her in. Why? "She was too damaged at that point," and they "didn't want her around" me and brother. I WAS LIVID. I said, "All lives matter, just not the broken ones?" She hung up on me, and we haven't spoken since. 

What's even more insane, is that my parent's don't think they're racist, despite my providing them with evidence that proves otherwise. They told me I hadn't lived their lives, or shared their experiences at work, blah blah blah, so there's no way I would understand their beliefs and prejudices. They even tried to contact my sister to "warn her against me," because they were afraid of what I might say. Guilty conscience? I think so. I don't need that negativity in my life, and I certainly don't want it around my children. This is something I needed to get off my chest, because it hurts that they are this way. It hurts that they can't see how their words and actions affect people.

Previous week on the blog:

• Sunday: The Sunday Post [49]
• Monday: The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad by Mike Birbiglia & poems by J. Hope Stein (★★⋆☆☆) Review
• Tuesday: What Unbreakable Looks Like by Kate McLaughlin [Blog Tour: Review] (★★★★★) Review
• Wednesday: My Weekly Pull [120] & Can't-Wait Wednesday [95]
• Thursday: The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor (★★★★⋆) Review
• Friday: NA
• Saturday: Library Love [2]

What I'm currently reading: 

Lair of Dreams (The Diviners, #2) by Libba Bray 🎧

Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein 

Letters to the Lost (Letters to the Lost, #1) by Brigid Kemmerer

What I plan on reading next:

Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti 

The Oddmire, Book 2: The Unready Queen (The Oddmire, #2) by William Ritter

I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick

What I'm watching:

The kids and I have been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Jacob and I started Space Force. I'm really enjoying sharing something from my childhood with the monsters, and I'm loving the cast for Space Force. I'm trying to catch up on The Good Place, but there's just not enough time in a day. Oh! The new season of Kipo is fantastic! 

Challenge updates:

• Read the Alphabet Challenge 14 
• Audiobook Challenge 14 / 50+
• Beat the Backlist Challenge 26 / 110
• Discussion Challenge 2 / 1-10
• Goodreads Challenge 200 / 365