I'm not angry anymore. Here's the bottom line...He knows how I feel about my exes. Like I said before, he could have easily asked if I could go up and take my boys with me. Instead he invited my exes. When one of the exes could not go, he called on me. My son said they (ex and her new family) were invited last month. I know its his wife pulling the strings here, but it doesn't excuse my brother for not saying, "Hey, let me see if my brother can bring the boys before you invite his exes. I know that he doesn't care to be at events with them."
Ah OK. That probably changes it a bit. Sounds like you guys just have a strained relationship due to your mom's current situation. Maybe there was something in the past that made him think you wouldn't want to come. Or perhaps it is his wife pulling the strings and he's trying to make her happy and not have any heated arguments on his daughters birthday.
Trust me...she and i are not close at all. I wasn't missed, and I guarantee you that she has no desire to see her strict uncle as a role model when she has parents that think her snarky remarks are hilarious. That's not my job.
My moms illness has definitely put a strain on our relationship. Hard to respect him and his wife when they do nothing to help with my mother. The truth is I probably would respect him if he told me straight up like you just did, instead of making up some lame story. I would have simply thanked him for the honesty and respectfully declined with my explanation.
Gotcha. Makes a little more sense now. My only question is, if the 16 year old isn't close with your son at all, why would they want him there in the first place?
It was actually my son from ex #1 and my son from ex #2. Ex #1 let them know later that they could not make it and that's when I got the invite. Ex #2 "Tara" accepted and took her new boyfriend to meet the gang. My brothers wife became close with both my exes after the last divorce. My son's have told me they don't care for my nieces behavior. I'm not even too sure they were all that excited about going up.
That's wishful thinking. You really think some 16 year old is going to be told the truth or even know about her dad's douchebagery? She won't know about anything going on and her uncle will look like a cuck.
This works for me at every family event. 1) Check ego at the door 2) Get drunk 3) Enjoy the time I do spend with family.
You keep making Exes and they became their friends,seems to me they just ran out of chairs I don't understand family affair and mandatory bonding at all and I won't be thrilled to attend my own son B.D but a gift card is always convenient
First, prayers to you mom, FT, and best wishes to everyone with their situations. Reading this thread is pretty scary. I'm pretty young, no wife/gf or anything, brothers with no wife or anything. My parents got their 'ole stuff, but I tend to stay out of it though, nothing crazy by me there. Yet, it seems like such conflicts are pretty common? Eek. I'm not close with my cousins, but not a strained relationship either. I'm currently very good with my brothers. Great. Fantastic. One of my brothers' been dating someone for 3 years: I'm really cool with his gf. Her family seems fine too. My other brother has a 9 month gf; no issues with her (although I don't know her very well and haven't met her family). I can't even imagine life without us in good standing, ya know? Do people change a lot over time or something?
It's very easy to change when you're in a relationship. But it sounds like you're in good standing. My issues with my sister have been going on forever and it's not like any of it is really all that surprising to me (except maybe the re-doing the taxes thing...that one still gets me).
My brother changed years ago when he married his wife. He has always put his wife's family in front of our family, but my mom always laid the law down. Every since Mom fell ill, everything has gotten worse since mom can't keep things in check and Dad is mostly non-confrontational. This was not a sudden thing. However, my brother's wife got close to 2nd ex AFTER the divorce.
The moral of all this...you can't trust women! They'll turn on each other in a heartbeat and back stab one another. Then the next moment, they're besties.
Ugh, and now because of our idiot in chief we get abbreviated words like cuck...yippee...hell in a hand basket.... DD