One big, happy family...?

The following is a letter I wrote to a friend of mine, and I decided to blog it... Sort of airing my frustrations.

My cousin died in July, and the whole family decided to make amends. In public, anyway. Behind closed doors they still gossip and bicker. Anyway, it was the first time in 23 years that I had known my mother to hug her mother. Both of these women are expert at deceit and secretive maliciousness. They've hated each other for decades, and they're very sneaky, which is why I keep my distance as much as possible. It's also why I refuse to be dishonest. I refuse to be like them.

My sister moved here from Indiana, and it raised a huge stir. Mom was really hoping to claim my sister's kids on her taxes another year. She even went to the extent of giving my unlisted address (you can't find it in the system at all) to Sis's convicted felon ex-husband (whom Sis has a restraining order against) a few weeks ago. That night, an officer showed up at my door asking if Sis was here to check to see "if she is ok". Might sound innocent to an extent, until you realize that I have never met this person or his family, and Mom already knew where my sister was. We had talked to her earlier that day.

Anyway, the latest stunt they're pulling is that my mother and family from Indiana are coming up here to Wisconsin to my grandmother's home for Thanksgiving. Sis and I are not supposed to know about it, nor are we invited. Very sweet of them, isn't it?

I have gone to the home of some friends for the holidays for the last year, anyway. Otherwise, Sis and I both learned to cook for ourselves very early on (we had to if we wanted to eat sometimes), and we both make a mean turkey.

Ahh, those warm family times....