My parents separated when I was 7, and in the 13 years since I've been able to see my dad few enough times that I can probably count them on one hand.I live with my mom, but she tends to get on my nerves a lot, but still less than my stepfather. Not that I find any of them to be bad people, just irritating or absent. I can't make a joke around my stepdad because he takes it too seriously and ruins it by putting in his own serious opinions, which are commonly based upon stereotypes, and follows it up with yet another story from his years as a troublemaking youth to which I will never be able to relate, as my adolescence is past and any trouble in which i was involved was started by others or even fictitious. Anything I do that he doesn't approve of he blames on the fact I smoke the MaryJane, and that really grinds my gears.
This isn't to say there aren't good times too; we've gone camping and that was fun (especially when my parents' air mattress went flat overnight and mine didn't
), mom and I play cards now and then, and it's fun. They easily accepted who and what I am, they support me with whatever I want to do (occasionally giving advice that I listen to when maybe I shouldn't), they pay my cell phone bill for now, and i only need to pay them back if i actually manage to cost them more money than what's covered. Overall, we're neutral towards one another with moments of hostility and moments of friendliness. The hostility usually comes when they push the subject of my single poor mark in school, which they haven't done since a clock got thrown at my door last year and took a chunk out of it. Next time, if there is one; it's close to the end of my last year now, I'm just gonna try and ignore them. Maybe that way it won't escalate to a shouting match like it always has before.
Also, @ ZW: I'm in the complete opposite situation as you and your sis: As the youngest of 3, I think I understand the 'older sibling' complex fairly well as it applies to me; thanks to the rep my troublemaking older brothers had, my mom always kept me under a magnifying glass(I swear she'd have put a tracking collar on me if she could
) and I'd always get harsher punishments than my brothers did. I was constantly getting suspended and missed half of the school year every year until I hit grade 9, and it only changed then because i was in a school my brothers didn't go to. I was SO surprised when the end of the year came and I realized that I hadn't gotten into any trouble that whole year, despite doing nothing different! Now I'm in the same high school as they went to, but most of the staff is different and they don't know my brothers, so i still don't get in any unreasonable trouble.
*sigh* Time to scoop the cat litter, so I guess I'm done now. Whoa, didn't realize I'd typed so much.