Family Matters

(Only 5? This thing doesn’t go any darker…)

Without going into too many details, Sunday morning was a terrible time for April. The frequent arguments with her sister about their mother came to a head during an hour-long phone call while we were getting ready to go see Pixar’s Up with the whole crew.

For those of you who don’t know, Ape and her sis are of a different mind when it comes to parenting and their relationships with their mom, spouses and kids. April and I both agree we are first in each other’s lives, followed very closely by the boys and then the rest of the extended family. Sis however, puts her mother, then kids over her husband. She actually told him so once in a car full of us. Aaawk-waaard~~

Sis is also superhuman – she doesn’t understand people not having the energy to do things: being sick, having physical ailments, a long day at work. She can go and go on about 3-5 hours sleep a day. Good for her, but Ape has some issues that limit her options for getting things done for everyone. Also, Sis doesn’t understand that teaching is more than a full-time job and doesn’t end when the students leave for summer. Sis works at an hourly blue-collar job that stats and ends at the door. She keys and files, basically. She doesn’t have to create lesson plans, student evals, tests and projects, meet with parents, etc., etc.

So, the phone call. April spent most of the hour explaining why she can’t spend every day with her mother, who lives nearby and doesn’t drive. Sis doesn’t like this and after the usual insults says what I think is the most hateful thing I think I’ve ever heard.

Sis only spends time with us so our boys can play with her boys and she wishes Ape wasn’t around so she could take them in. Oh, it’s ON now bitch!

As you can imagine, we changed theater plans on the spot and redirected my parents. The six of us enjoyed a very peaceful movie and meal at Arby’s. Later, Sis left a message that basically *reaffirmed* her position by way of a backhanded apology. The point of the message was to not take this out on the boys and otherwise avoid each other.

Good. I’m tired of how Sis, and her husband, treat April. The insults (more than the above) have been bad enough but now I can stand in and say it’s over for now. I have no intention of going out of my way for her as I have many times in the past. Whether she admits it or not she’s crossed a line and if she ever wants me to associate with her family again, I’m going to need a personal apology and an explanation for the hateful things she said.

Oh yeah, we saw a movie. Up is fantastic. I think it’s the most emotionally-connected Pixar film to date and if you can get through the whole thing without at least a tear in your eye, you aren’t human. I’ll admit it, this Mithra got very weepy. And in large part, it was because the story is a love story at its core, and the bond they share doesn’t end with her death. Remember my post from a few weeks ago, about how I want Ape and I to leave this earth, hand-in-hand? Yeah, it’s like that.