Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Those Icky In-Laws

What is it about in-laws? I mean seriously, are over half of the parents on this planet certifiable nut jobs? I realize that maybe I'm so used to my own family's unique form of insanity that they seem normal to me, but some levels of craziness from others are beyond even my comprehension.

Take Hubby's family, for instance. Could it be the Southern inbreeding that left them unable to participate in life as normal human beings? Then I remember, I know plenty of mostly normal Southerners to blow that theory right out of the water. I'm often quite surprised that he didn't end up just as loony as the rest of his goofball clan. He has his odd quirks, as do we all, but he is far more normal than his kinfolk. They are just out of control and completely out of touch.

I've avoided any contact with them for the past couple of years, preferring to just let Hubs deal with them when necessary. Nearly every time I've come in contact with them it's been made very, very clear to me they don't think I'm good enough for their son and definitely not good enough to be the mother of their granddchildren. I'd really rather not put myself into that kind of poisonous climate because one day, I might just lose it right back at them.

Most recently the latest family flap has been over thank you notes. Yes, thank you notes for Christmas gifts. Hubby got an extremly ugly, mean, nasty email from his father basically accusing us of being terrible parents for not making "those girls" send thank you notes. He spewed vitriol and basically said he doesn't know why anyone sends those girls gifts because they are so "fucking ungrateful." The kicker is, the thank you notes HAVE been sent, and were sent almost two weeks ago. Is it somehow our fault the U.S. Postal Service hasn't delivered yet? I was raised to send thank yous for all gifts received, and I'm very good about it. I admit, sometimes I don't get the Christmas notes out until the end of January, but, they always get done.

I don't even want to get started on his grandmother, I might not be able to shut up. She is a piece of work. I won't talk to her any more and Wild has gotten to the point where she dreads having to talk to her because of the things she says. She has even gone as far as to tell Wild (when she was about 9 years old) that she, and her father and I, were all going to burn in hell because we don't go to church every Sunday and twice a week. She still brings that up, but mostly it's directed at me. I'm going to burn in hell because I don't go to church. At least she won't be there.

If I could just convince Hubs to cease contact with them *sigh* It seems every time one of his family makes contact with him, things between us become strained. Either he's venting, or, he does believe the ugly things his family say about me and he starts questioning my suitability as a wife and mother. Who knows. I just know I'm tired of it and I have FAR too many manners to tell them what I really think.

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