I lost all patience with my sister tonight...(long soapy vent)

GoddessOfGuinness

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Thu Sep-09-04 01:03 AM
Original message

I lost all patience with my sister tonight...(long soapy vent)

Edited on Thu Sep-09-04 01:13 AM by GoddessOfGuinness

I've been trying to arrange a family get-together for my mom's 70th birthday. I mentioned it in a thread a few days ago, because my mom gets depressed around this time of year...My dad passed away the day before her birthday, 11 years ago.

Anyway, I finally got word from my brother on the days he's available, and called my sister to see if we could go to this place next Wednesday. She started talking like it was going to be the world's biggest pain in the ass to get there after work, through rush-hour traffic, yadayada; so I told her I could probably rearrange my schedule to go out on Sunday after my gig.

Then I called the restaurant and found out they don't take reservations, and they aren't even open on Sunday. So I called my sister back, and left a message explaining what was up, and suggesting that taking a different route than she's accustomed to would be a real time-saver in rush hour.

At this point in my little novelette, I'll mention a couple of points. My sister is married and has a couple of kids. They are MAJORLY republican; and their comments have been a source of much tooth-grinding for me, as I don't like to argue with family members.

It'd fall on deaf ears anyway...My brother-in-Law's neck couldn't be redder if he was a lobster. When I talked with her the first time this evening, she apologized that her phone wasn't working properly because he'd gotten pissed and taken his aggressions out on it. And this isn't the first phone that's suffered his wrath. In the past, he's been ultra-jealous of her friendships, and displayed a serious lack of trust which is compounded by her flirtatious nature. I suspect he may be verbally abusive if not physically.

I also have a 25 year old stepson, whom I'll call "Paul", who is extremely liberal-minded in many ways, and amusingly eccentric. Last Easter, he wore a white bunny suit to dinner (in a restaurant) with a camo-vest. He's nearly as talkative as my sister; and the two of them can really drive me bonkers unless I occasionally excuse myself from their company to get a breath of silence.

So my sister called back later and said that it'd be ok to have dinner there, but she wasn't sure what time they'd make it. She was kind of hostile-sounding about it, and said taking back roads wouldn't work, that it was going to take 2 hours to get there, etc; and I managed to get her to stop talking long enough to explain a route she wasn't aware of, which she acknowledged with an, "Oh. Weird."

Then I told her that I was sure Mom wouldn't want her to stress out about it, and suggested that she could do something with Mom on her own. To this she replied, "Oh no, I'm willing to make the sacrifice for Mom's birthday, I'm just not sure when we'll be there, and I'll have to make sure the kids are fed before we leave, etc." I said that since we usually spend time drinking wine and having coffee afterward, it wouldn't be a problem for us to wait for them.

THEN she said, "Oh there's one other thing...If you're planning on inviting "Paul", which of course you have every right to do, I have to ask that he not wear any bunny suits or do any weird stuff, because "Joe" (bother-in-law...not a typo) hates that. In fact, Joe hates Paul."

Now I hadn't planned on inviting Paul to this get-together, but I was so astounded and angered by my sister's rudeness that I went off in a tirade, "I'll tell you what, I just won't invite him at all...will that satisfy you?" (remarkable silence) I continued, "You know, a large part of life is about dealing with people and their little quirks...Why is it that everybody has to deal with you, but you can't deal with anybody else?" (even more silence) Finally, I said, "You know, I really don't have time to waste arguing over a bunch of whiny crap...come if you want to come, don't if you don't..." (silence) "Bye." And I hung up.

I guess she's pissed at me for life now; but the funny thing is, I don't give a crap. I was so insulted that she'd ask me to tell any adult guest that they had to refrain from acting this way or that to please my sister and her family. Jeez! :grr:

I told Mr. GoddessOfGuinness when he came home from work. He suggests that we ALL wear bunny suits next Easter. :evilgrin: