These days, I'm really concerned about my dad and brother. It would be so much easier to not give a damn, but it's not the way it is. Several years ago, my dad and brother went into business together, painting houses. They painted houses for a builder (one of two in their community), and did an ok business, though they didn't make as much as they should, because if you're one of two builders in town, you know that you can pay whatever you want, s0 they felt as though they were working too much for not enough money. Working so hard has taken a toll on their bodies, not to mention their relationships with their immediate families. You see, my dad is very biblical in his views, but only believes in his own interpretations....and in the Bible it says that a father should leave a legacy for his children. In his belief, this means that he should leave his children with a huge sum of money when he kicks it. The only way he sees to get rich is to be in business for himself. My dad, however, isn't very business savvy, and has racked up tons and tons of debt which he has been having trouble paying off. In his frustration at making so little and working so much for this builder, he quit working for them, and has been tossing up ideas of what kind of business to run ever since. Mind you, I use "he" most often in this when I should be saying "they," but my brother has been a bit of a silent partner when it comes to the business, or might as well be, as my dad will not listen to what my brother has to say. He does work his tail-end off, though. Now his big idea is to start up a seafood restaurant in the SAME BUILDING as he has been housing a painting business, bait shop, and metal shop......In talking to my sister-in-law this weekend, with whom I don't always see eye-t0-eye, she is at her wit's end with all this. She wants my brother to walk away from the business, but my brother doesn't want to leave dad.....She has also told me that she's been seriously ready to leave a few times, but can't figure out what to do with taking care of my nephews, so she's giving him another year to do what he wants with this business, but if it's looking as shoddy as it does now, that either he has to walk or she will....If my sister-in-law is saying this, I have to wonder what my step-mother (my REAL mother, mind you, if you've been following along here...) is thinking. Sometimes I wonder if she's just sticking around until the boys (my two younger brothers, who are a junior and senior in high school) are out of the house. If she's not as frustrated as everyone else is with all this, then she's really bound to be cannonized after she goes. I just don't know how anyone could cope with being a single mother when they're married....My SIL and mom also are fending for the family with their own incomes at the moment, too.

While my road to hell is paved with Girl Scout Cookies, other people's roads to hell are paved with good intentions. I just wish I didnt' care about this. I wonder what the effects of this will be should things keep going as badly as they have......