9:12 PM

A visit to my paternal grandparents' house tonight for dinner with the cousins from Michigan ended as it usually does: my mother drank too much wine and started describing just how racist her side of the family is, my dad tried (and failed) to quiet her, my cousins tried to out-Catholic one another with the story about the one time they drove through Detroit and saw "gang-bangers", my aunt complained to my grandfather about how the grand-daughter of L.L. Bean is buying up all of the property in Maine so she can't find lobsters anywhere, my grandmother had a meltdown in the next room because she dropped a piece of pizza on the floor, and everyone commented on how pale and tired I look.