Furious!

Especially after joining the ranks of "elders" I feel elders should be respected. I really do. But, you know, that respect should be somewhat earned. I really feel you cannot spend your life acting like a b****, and then fully expect people to fall all over themselves for you.

I just found out my mother-in-law finally remembered my son's birthday. In the last few years, she had not, and that is something that must be stated here. It is one of the many snubs she has given our family. For THIS birthday card, she included a letter. In that letter, she put him on a huge quilt trip. She wrote how the Capitol City group are the only ones who come to see her.

B never was one to go to see her. We would go to see her about twice a year. In the past, SHE has come to Swampland less than ten times, and we are talking about thirty-seven years here. I don't understand just why she thinks we should pay homage to her now. Yes, you are a widow now, but you live in an independent living place now - surrounded by people who you apparently choose to NOT want to get to know.

I really wish she would have done as usual and just forgotten his birthday. I hate to see my son upset by this woman.

I can hardly wait to see what my birthday card has to say (IF there is one this year - I, too have been forgotten in the past). When the kids were very young, she wanted to keep them for a week. If I didn't grovel at her feet to her expectations, I was verbally attacked. The attacks were vicious. They happened twice.

We don't stop to see her often. We don't go to Alamo City. We have no reason. It is out of the way to the SSB, and we have Simone with us. She can't wait in the truck in this heat. MIL always had dogs. She ought to know about that! B never goes that way at all. I guess he is supposed to make a special trip. At $4 + a gallon, a 200 mile trip for no good reason is a bit much to expect. Most of his weekends are spent with the band at a gig. I don't know when she expects him to go.

Perhaps she should remember the old addage with a modern twist: you get as you gave. She gave little.