January 2000- Miller

January 2000

The Miller Family

Doyle, 67, Adriana, 67, and Stella, 18

Narrated by Stella




Mom and Dad retiring was a horrible plan. Now they're so focused on their hobbies that they hardly ever even speak to me! Mom has a part-time job as an EMT but other than that, she spends most of her time sewing

or fawning over Eloise's new baby, Flora.

The other night, when Eloise stopped by, Dad didn't even let her get in the door before he hugged her...

but I'm here everyday and get hardly any interactions with them. We don't even eat dinner together anymore, it always ends up just me. I'm honestly not even sure if they eat. I swear I haven't seen them grab anything more than a snack in ages.

The few interactions we do have are things like them telling me to take out the trash.

That or lecturing me, which gets really old.

I mean, come on, it's not like I meant to break the computer. I was just chatting with a friend and then suddenly it starts smoking... Mom says I shouldn't even have been on it in the first place, I should have been visiting with Eloise and Flora, but it was obvious I wasn't welcome so I found something better to do.

At least it was an easy fix and Dad had it working again in minutes. Whatever. I've just decided to spend more time away from home. I went to this really place that I got a membership to. It's geared toward the musically inclined. I'm not a big fan of music, I much prefer science, but with all of the violin practice I've had I've built up some enthusiasm for the subject. It was really fun. I tried out a few different things.

And then I saw my cousin Chris' husband, Vladimir. So I chatted him up a bit...

 (This guy is hot) and then I convinced him to dance with me.

It was a great night. When I got home I saw my Dad was still in his garden. He'd been working on it when I'd left, too. That's one of his hobbies. Between gardening and fishing he always has something he's working on. His current project is building a greenhouse. It's about halfway done.

It's been a really mild winter so far. I'm surprised his plants are still alive! It seems every time the pond freezes over it thaws the next day. And we haven't even had any flurries. I just hope this doesn't mean the spring will be cold and wet.

I've decided I need to work on making more friends so when this girl from school asked to come over and hangout I gave in. She's only sixteen, but she's not bad.

Evangelina and I actually hit it off right away. And apparently all of the time that I've been spending alone has been really noticeable to Dad. He actually got up early the other day and was joking around with me before I had to go to school.

I think he's really trying to reconnect with me. We'll see if he keeps it up or if he goes back to his plants and fish in a few days. There's hope though. As for my mother? Well, I think her only interest is in the grandkids. I can't wait til I head to college this summer. It will be nice to be out on my own.