the latest gossip from my soap-opera family

01 June 2004 || 8:18 pm

Alright...here we go again. And I know my dear pregnant librarian will just love this...

On my dad's side of the family, I have two cousins who are older than I, sisters...we'll call them "Kelsey" and "Julie". Kelsey graduated from high school a few years ago and decided not to go to college because she didn't want (get this) to "limit herself".

I am so not kidding...she said she'd limit herself by going to college. (That really gives you a great idea of the maturity level of my cousins, right there, folks).

So Kelsey has been working at Wal-mart, or Winn-Dixie, or K-Mart, or any other number of low paying jobs at places with hyphanated names. She enrolled at a community college, finally, but ran out of money after a semester. Apparently they don't "qualify" for student loans, which you know has got to be complete bullshit, but whatever.

"Julie", the younger one, is a year older than I, she just turned 18 about a week ago. She also just finished high school with respectable grades, and was planning on attending Florida State (goooooooo SEMINOLES!!).

I had hope for Julie. She seemed to realize that why, yes - college really is a smart thing to do.

Now, I realize that that's a bit much for backstory, and I know that like the smart little readers you are, you understand there is a gigantic BUT coming. (And no, I don't mean the J Lo kind...)

You see, all of this progress, the getting good grades, the ambition, the planning, the idea of doing something with her life, here, people has Gone To Shit.

But...but....why?? you may ask...

Well, Gentle Readers, because my cousin went out and

GOT HERSELF KNOCKED UP

so now she and her Puerto Rican boyfriend (nothing against Puerto Ricans, just threw it in for that je ne sais quoi, as it were) are getting married so they can live with my aunt and not go to college in order to raise a child who (I promise - cross my heart) will end up being raised by...um, who is it now...oh, yeah! MY AUNT.

I'm a bit tense, here, having lost so much respect for someone who, while I didn't really have much resepct for, the hope was there.

Oh, well, another good wish shot to bloody hell.

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