two months ago....

Went to a catered dinner at my uncle's house for his birthday a couple of nights ago. My grandfather wanted everyone to tell a story about my uncle. And nobody had stories from more recently than 30 years ago. He spends all of his time working and I've never spent longer than a couple of hours with him at at time. Nobody even knows him. And I'm writing about this on blog, because our superficial relationship is linked to an obsession with money and success. He's achieved both, but has no deep relationships with anyone in his family.

He got so excited that his bank had sent him a fancy bottle of wine for his birthday, that I almost felt bad for the guy. It's like the deeper he got into work and into prestige and perfection, the shallower he got in his ability to connect with the people around him. He's got so much money and so little joy in his life.

And I'm not saying that people should feel bad for this poor rich guy or that people from poorer families necessarily have deeper connections. All I know is that
in my family, theres an illusion that we're all really close and really good friends, but funny stories from 30 years ago, is that really enough to make you close?