Ancestors

I talked to my grandma this morning. She told me about her siblings, her parents, her grandparents... Apparently, I have a drop of royal blood in me. I'll break it down to you.

My great-great-great grandparents were the Sultan and Sultana (pretty much like the king and queen) of Kesultanan Solo. The king had 4 wives, 19 children. It was not unusual for a Sultan to have more than one wife.
My great-great-grandpa is the 9th, he has 3 children. They lived in the colonial period. His wife has a long rifle, and she pointed it at him when he told her that he was going to marry another woman (he didn't marry that woman... A woman and her rifle are enough, I guess). Fortunately, back in the colonial era, the royal descendants were able to study abroad or in some kind of colonial schools with the colonies' children. One of his children went to study in Netherlands, married a local woman, and not coming back.
His son, my great-grandpa, is the founder of BPK-RI (Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan Republik Indonesia, or The Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia), there's a museum (and a street. And a building) named after him. He married twice, and here's a shocking fact about him: his wives are sisters. He married the older one, she gave him 3 children, she died, he married his younger sister, she gave him 5 children... My grandma is the 3rd of 8. 
My grandma's siblings worked in different fields. Her 2 brothers were a minister and a doctor, her 5 sisters were a model, a translator, a lawyer, a doctor, a CEO... And my grandma is an engineer, the first woman in my country to be a metallurgy and mechanical engineer. Cool. She married my grandpa, an architect with a nuclear degree.

I want to know more about my family from my another grandma (my dad's mom), but she has Alzheimer's. She doesn't recognize me anymore. 

I've heard a lot of stories about my family. Some of them are so inspiring, and some of them are... Weird. One thing I know for sure: there's no stay-at-home mother for about 7 generations, and the nannies are the ones who take care of their children. It's like, 7 generations of mother issues. Now I know why I'm not into children.

Love,
Ms. D

When Opposites Attract

She's an above-average student, his GPA is not even close to her GPA, divided by two. She's an under-promise-over-deliver type of person, he's an over-promise-under-deliver type of person. She's a morning person, he's a night person. She's a planner, he's an impulsive. She's an adrenaline junkie, he's not into that kind of thing. She never misses any class, he barely come to his classes. Did you ever think that it was a cruel joke of nature that we find ourselves attracted to people very much unlike us? I mean, wouldn’t it be an awful lot simpler and a lot less messy if we tended to be drawn to those whose personalities are more like our own rather than those who seem like they are polar opposites of us. 

I don't even know why I fall so hard for that person. He annoys me a lot, I want to slap his face so hard. At the same time, I want him to hold my hand and look me in the eye the way Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams do in The Notebook. Crazy, huh? I miss him when he's not around, but get annoyed when he talks to me in person. 

When I fall in love, I fell in pattern. I always fell for a person whose personality is not so different from myself. But this time is different. I realized that nobody wants to date themselves, right? I'm looking for a complement, not someone identical. Opposing cultures, tastes and opinions can actually benefit a relationship by introducing each person to a whole new perspective.

But... Why him? Like my brain stopped working properly, then my heart decided to take over my brain's job to find a perfect partner for me. Why? WHY?!

Do opposites really attract?

Love,
Ms. D