Same Planet, Different Worlds

Today I did my usual routine. I got up early with my wife and made coffee and some fresh juice (yes, after about 7 weeks I'm still juicing every day) then I went to the supermarket to get some stuff. We are going to have a big snowstorm so I wanted to get there early. Afterwards, my wife went to work to teach violin as she always does on Saturdays. Her younger sister, who lives up the street from us, has been having a rough go of it lately. She's probably too stressed out. She leads a different lifestyle than we do and I guess most people that I know. She's a homeschoolingrawveggieeatingperson. As I mentioned above, she's been having a rough time of things and maybe it's a mid-life crisis or something, but things aren't working for her like they used to. She's been rather anxious and agoraphobic too. She's been working at getting better and may need (in my opinion) some western medicine to achieve it. I have been trying to help her and her husband out by taking my niece to piano or by picking things up for them at the farm and things like that. Today, she called to see if I could bring my niece to piano and pick up something at the supermarket for her. I bargained with her. I said I will bring my niece, but you have to come to the store with me. She agreed. Afterwards, I convinced her to go to the farm too. She did. It worked out ok, the world didn't end and she felt better by going. I'd rather teach her to fish so she can eat forever as the old saying goes (although fish isn't raw veggies, I guess she could have sushi). I'm just trying to give a little background here before I go on. She her and her husband (who is a closet carnivore and mainstream school person) have a circle of friends who are homeschoolingrawveggieeatingpeople. I had never met these folks who I shall call Cathy and Harvey (because that are their names) and I was told they are very nice people (and I'm sure they are) but when I walked into my SILs house and met these folks, you could cut the tension with a paring knife. It was like putting folks from PETA in the middle of a Montana Ranchers Convention. It was instantly "these people are too extreme for me". The woman had a sort of crazed look about her, not unhealthy, but a "I know that you are a MEATEATER and that you will rot in HELL" look and Harvey, sitting cross legged on a stool with a french accent seems just as intense. They were talking about Marco (their son I assumed) who is a homeschooler child who decided that he didn't want to do any Math work for two years because, well, he didn't want too. I'm not that progressive I guess. I do admire people who make homeschooling work for them so I'm not knocking all of them. I just don't quite get it (maybe the meat I eat has clouded my judgment). They were also addressing my SILs anxiety and they mentioned Lady-X who had to stay in bed for a year before she got better but she did it by golly with out any xanax or zoloft or anything. They really seemed to be pressuring my SIL, who had confided in me earlier that she didn't want to see these people but her husband wanted them to come over. I felt like I was in the middle of an intervention. Oh, and also the other week (this has been going on for SIL since Dec 4th) Cathy told her how she should deal with the anxiety. "Don't worry about it".
Holy Fuck!!! Here I've been, going to a therapist and on some medications for over a year to deal with my anxiety and my medical stuff (that some of you know about) when all I had to do was not worry about it. Wow, is my face red. After about 5 minutes of me not talking, I went downstairs to check on my boys and to get out of the kitchen. I hung down there for about 10 minutes with people I could relate to (12 year olds) then came upstairs to say that I had things to do and was leaving. I politely said goodbye and went home to take another xanax. I do feel bad about my SIL and I hope she gets better. We all struggle at times and I in no way think that her situation is funny. I had been given a new normal about 2 years ago and I don’t particularly like it, but it's what I was given and I have to deal with it. She was given a new normal too and has to deal with it. I just thought that this encounter with different minded people was interesting so I wrote about it.
I miss Myra, but that's another post....