I don't know about yours - but parts of my extended family are highly dysfunctional. One member of this extended family was traveling with her husband and young sons to visit her mother. Things didn't go well there so they moved on - earlier than planned by days - to the next stop - her aunt and uncle's house where they were supposed to be staying. But apparently the uncle had one of his recurring and highly suspicious and convenient illnesses so they wound up in a hotel. I'm the next stop on her family's journey and I hope to make up for all of the other craziness they have endured. Now, this didn't happen to me directly - but if it had I might have turned to food. It's one of the reasons, I believe, that we eat. We set such high hopes and expectations on our family - hoping that our brother will show up at the event, that our uncle won't be drunk this time, that the steaks won't burn, the kids won't fight, the pending divorce will be postponed. I think we're all looking for June and Ward Cleaver and when that doesn't happen, diappointment and/or embarassment winds its way into our hearts and our sorry selves - or our sorry binge beast that lives within us - cries out for food. I think the most important thing we can do when confronted with dysfunction within our families is to realize that we are not the source of that dysfunction - and hold our heads up high and move with grace and kindness toward the people who have screwed up. We don't have to sink to their level and we especially don't have to stuff (translation: eat mass quantities of food) our disappointment because of their actions.