It wasn't actually off-topic, really. You made me consider something I hadn't thought of before. What you said about Dan, I mean. One of the books I started reading last year (I can't remember which one right now) mentions how within dysfunctional families you'll usually find everyone playing certain "roles." I was usually the calm, level-headed one. When people first started finding out I had depression & anxiety, my mom's reaction was "you can't have problems. You've always been the strong one!"

I don't think that people like it when you start changing the rules on them.