Things I am really tired of, thank you very much. (Or, first world problems)

1. People who hit "Reply All" to messages sent by listserves. I do not need to know your pithy opinion about an email that was sent to the entire university, please stop.

2. Writing professors who give patently bad advice. Like, this is not me being an upstart youngin' who should learn their place and respect their elders - this is me being genuinely annoyed for reasons I have been told are completely legitimate.

for example:

• The professor who told the class that any time a director suggests a change, you must do it, because you don't want to acquire a reputation of being "difficult to work with." No, fuck you. When a director tells you to make a change, it is completely at your discretion to do it or not to do it, and they cannot coerce you. And if the director makes the change without your permission, then they have violated the rights of the playwright and fuck them. 
• The professor who complains about actors improvising lines and then, when you get muscled into having them read a part in your pages, improvises the fucking lines. THERE IS NOT A "WELL" THERE. THERE IS NOT A MENTION OF THE ADRESSED PERSON'S NAME THERE. IF I HAD WANTED IT READ THAT WAY,  I WOULD HAVE WRITTEN IT THAT WAY. It does not help me to hear what is wrong with my lines if you are changing my lines. 

Thoughts on 'Lifetime Achievement'

This play comes from two conversations I had, and a few other places.

1. A discussion with my sister, ages and ages ago, that because we are almost ten years apart our early childhoods were completely different, despite us having the same parents. In the ten years between when Ellen was born and when Max and I were born, our parents financial situation changed drastically, they moved to a new city, built a house, etc. E. was born to parents who were still finishing their educations, whereas M. and I were born into a family where our parents were already established professionals. Same parents, completely different childhoods, because we encountered them at different points in their lives.

2. A discussion with my mother about different children need different kinds of parents, and parents adapt their parenting style to what works best for their specific child. Siblings might remember their parents in very different ways, even if they lived with them at the same time.

The way you describe a play when put on the spot by your anthropology advisor is probably as close to the essence as you're ever going to get. In that case:

"Five siblings gather after their father's death to write his eulogy, but realize they can't and that because of their large age differences they all knew different versions of their father."