Money and families.

Fabulously Broke in the City had a post today about her brother and how he earns a large income with spending to match. If you haven't checked out her blog, please do, it's one of my favorite PF blogs that I read daily.

Just reading about her brother and his ideals really had me thinking about my relationship with my family. When I go home, it's such a stark realization that I'm such a black sheep. I don't have anyone in my family that thinks as I think; pretty much about everything. Here are a few of our differences...

Diet:

I believe what we put in our bodies is fuel. When I buy food, especially dairy products, I buy organic as much as I can. I think that organic and natural as possible is what keeps us healthy. I love fresh fruits and veggies; I became a vegetarian almost 3 years ago and have no desire to ever go back and eat meat. I don't eat a lot of fast food, if ever, because there really aren't good choices for us veggies, but at the same time, it keeps me away from french fries!! When I come home, my mom always makes this big production about how it's so difficult for her to come up with food ideas and what I can eat. Give me a break, it's never difficult for me to find food. Ever. Anyway, don't get me wrong, I'll eat junk food when the mood strikes, who doesn't love a good pizza or yummy cookies?

Careers:

I believe that I should do what I want to do. (What a concept, huh?) I'm going to work in the criminal justice field very soon doing a potentially dangerous job...and I couldn't be more excited. Boyfriend bought me a gun for my birthday so that I could use it for home protection and for my new job. Oh geez, you would have thought the world had ended. My uncle thinks I should work in sales or pharmaceuticals (Ha. That's not going to happen) because that's where one can make a lot of money. Why can't they be supportive and recognize what I'm going to do is a community service and only will boost my career further in the CJ field?

Living:

I believe we should live within our means (another new concept, huh?) and that we should save for what we want, not act on impulse, and really evaluate all future purchases. My parents feel that they need a big house (3000sqft/4 bedrooms/4 bathrooms/pool) for who knows what reason? It's not for when all of us kids come home because only 2 of the bedrooms are actually for sleeping! One room is for my dad's computer room and other stuff (which is packed to the hilt with stuff) the other is for decorations and various crap (some which haven't seen the light of day for 20+ years). Oh, and they have a two car garage that is so full of stuff you can barely walk in. Not kidding. Anyway, my mom stresses out so much about the house, and who wouldn't, but she's not willing to part with loads and loads of stuff, like she needs to.

So, I may be ranting a bit and all families have their differences, but when I'm home, it's so nice but at the same time it's stressful because I feel like I'm being judged and my "hippie" opinions don't matter. At the same time, I'm glad I'm not like that, I'm glad I think differently and outside of the typical American ideals; I guess that's why I started this blog...I like who I am and damn it, I'm happy. And that's all that matters, right?