Re: What's Normal Like?

[Guest guest]

my parents are divorced and my MOM'S parents are divorced, so even

before i got married, i had a mom/granddad event, a mom/grannie event,

and a dad, et al event. my mom used to refuse to make plans until

everyone else had made plans, then schedule events over pre-existing

events. this was a real pain in the ass. my dad has 12 siblings (and

mom hated all the females in the family, of which there are 8 SISTERS)

and i have somewhere around 70 cousins on that side, so every family

event happens at the same time every year!!! it's not that hard to

figure out! but inevitably, she would plan something that she demanded

we attend at the exact same time, then cry about us loving dad more.

WHATEVER! my little sisters and dad and i finally got so sick of it,

we were like, it's true! no one loves you! now leave us alone. spend

thanksgiving with your stupid dad (who only ever gets the mom side of

the story). boy, did she straighten up after that. now she's finally

taken a hint and no longer schedules events during holidays. she

actually has decided to celebrate the solstice instead of having a

christmas thing because there's no competition, which is superduper

fine with me.

ugh, and she hates going over to her mother's house, so basically she

would get high and take a xanax before going and then she would act

like a complete brat the entire time. it's like, jeezy creezy woman,

if YOU don't want to be here, why the hell are we here?

christmas used to be completely bonkers, but i have been a pain in the

ass and restructured it so that we go to my dad's thing on christmas

eve @1, my mom's mom's thing @6, then on christmas, it's my husband's

parents in the morning, a friend's house @2, and then back to my

husband's family @ 6 for dinner (and we drag mom to everything so she

can't bitch about not being included. she eventually gets tuckered out

and refuses to go to stuff). and then my birthday is two days later,

so there's always some crazy " happy birthday, it's 1pm on your

birthday. do you have anything planned? BUT I WANTED TO TAKE YOU

OUT...i even took the day off... " crap waiting in the wings.

believe it or not, this is a very truncated schedule compared to what

it used to be. and the wacky emotional crap is almost nonexistent. it

was kind of funny this year because mom was really trying to get upset,

but there was absolutely nothing for her to be upset about. she said i

was being " mean " to her and i just told her, " mom, i do believe it's

been so long since you've seen me be mean that you've completely

forgotten what it's like. " i think that got her thinking because when

we went out for my birthday and my husband was talking about martial

arts, my mom said, " watch out for (bink), she goes for the knees. "

(when she would attack me, getting on my back and kicking her knees

HARD was the only defensive position i could think of that would keep

her a leg's length away from me.) i was all, DAMN STRAIGHT! i'm a bad

ass.

there were a few years where she thought that my MIL was " controlling "

me and that the MIL is very manipulative and always gets her way... my

MIL's secret: SHE FREAKING MAKES PLANS! SHE INCLUDES PEOPLE!!!

HER " GUILT TRIPS " are more like " GUILT WALKS-IN-THE-FREAKING-PARK! "

it's FUN to be around her. GAH!!! WHAT THE FREAKING HELL!??!??!??!?!

VENTventVENTventVENTvent

bink

>

> Hi everyone,

> With Christmas and all that just over, has anyone else been thoroughly

> confused about what goes on in families that aren't *completely*

> dysfunctional? (ie don't revolve around neurotic prats?)

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