I have been with my husband for 7 years now, and it’s been hell since the beginning. I am older than my husband by 5 years and have 3 children from a previous marriage. From the very beginning she was beyond hostile to me… wouldn’t even read the emails I sent trying to connect with her (she lives 4 hours away… thank the Lord for small blessings). My husband was upset, but I told him that I understood… he was young, and she was afraid of the responsibility he was taking on. We made it up north to meet for Thanksgiving 4 months after we started dating. Not only did she invite his ex-girlfriend, but made sure there was only one open seat at the table, which she promptly invited “Hopey”, the ex, to sit in. I ended up eating on the couch in the living room. Again, my husband was upset and wanted to leave, but I was determined to see the thing through. It all came to a head when his ex made a nasty comment about my 2 year old son. I wasn’t there to hear it, but my husband did and went off on her. We decided at that point it was better to leave, and his mother told me that she hoped to God that one day I lost one of my sons. The next few years went by, and I thought we had come to a truce. We are both outspoken, strong women, and pretty much just decided to agree to disagree. It came to a head the Christmas before last, though. First, let me explain that his mother is ADDICTED to soap operas, and can’t stand when her life doesn’t reflect the same level of drama. She thrives on it. I had made up my mind to make things easier on my husband and refuse to let her get to me this particular Christmas. However, she started before she even got here. She adopted a cat on the way… yes, on the 4 hour drive… to my house. I am deathly allergic to cats, of which she is WELL aware. Did she really need to stop and adopt one on the way to my house? REALLY? Anyway, I told her she was going to have to keep it in her truck. I have a dog, don’t have a litter box, and don’t want to spend Christmas in the hospital getting shots of epinephrine. The other option was to ask her daughter, who lived 20 minutes away from me and has a cat, to take it for the weekend. No can do. She just COULDN’T impose on Jodi that way. ANYWAY, she made her husband, who has health issues, get up every 15 minutes to check on the cat. I could see that this was bothering my husbnad, so I told her she could keep the cat in my basement bathroom, even though there was no litter box. She was oh-so-very thankful. The next day when I got home from work there was cat hair all over my dark green furniture (white cat… I have a black lab), and cat vomit and urine in several spots in my house. She denies, however, letting it out. Determined to keep the peace, I let it slide. Obviously this did not fit into her script for a Soap Opera Christmas, b/c she had to push it further. We had Christmas dinner scheduled for 6pm. When I woke up at 10 that day she informed me that she had called her daughter and changed it to noon. I had to rush to get the food done. As soon as it was over, his sister left, and his parents left, leaving me with one hell of a mess to clean up. We didn’t speak to them for a year after that (the most peaceful of our marriage), but I decided to make contact again when I found out I was pregnant. It must have been the hormones… I’m not normally that stupid. It really seemed like things were going to be great until we got close to the due date. She wanted to come down a week before I was due, and stay for a MONTH afterward to “help” me. Even if I weren’t the very private, personal-spacey person that I am this couldn’t be anything but a nightmare. We informed her that we really just wanted the time to bond as a family, and she was more than insulted. We finally talked her into coming on the Saturday that my daughter was to be born (I was induced). It was the fartghest back I could push it… she wouldn’t hear of coming any later, even though we wanted the privacy. My Mom graciously invited her to stay at her house which is much larger than ours and just 2 miles away. My MIL came down the day before the birth instead. My sister was keeping my other children, and my husband and I had one last “grown-up only” night planned. I was to be induced at 5 the next morning. She shoed up at my house with a truckfull of seedy garage-sale crap for my baby (don’t get me wrong… I love a good garage sale, but I’m a little more particular than she is). I had cleaned all day so that I would have a peaceful environment to come home to. So not only did she ruin our night, but messed up my house, too. The next day she refused to come up to the hospital b/c she did not get a “personal” call letting her know that Bekah was born. My husband and I had both made it clear that ourt children were going to be the first to know and the first to see her. My sister had my children, and seeing as she was over my mom’s house when my husband called her, she just relayed the news. My mom did not get a “personal” call either. My mom, hating conflict, had to spend 40 minutes cajoling my 2 year old of a MIL into coming up to the hospital. She shouldn’t have bothered. Anyway, when she got there she walked right past me without so much as a “hello”, and was just ugly. They stayed until visitor time was up, and showed up again as soon as they were allowed the next morning, with NO regard to the fact that I may want to shower, dress, or nurse my baby. While they were there she acted like such a victim, and stood quietly in the corner and talked about me in Spanish. I’m not stupid. Anyway, she left the same way she came… without a word to me. The &^$#@. Anyway, as I write this is sit here waiting for her to show up. I’m so stressed about the visit I feel like I’m going to stroke out. When my husband was growing up she beat him every day just because she “figured” he did something wrong. Not to mention she and my FIL are both raging alcoholics (she’e never admit it… they “only” drink on the weekends… nevermind that that means from 10am Saturday to 3 am Monday). I shudder at the thought of this woman being around my children, much less touching them.. UGH! My mom says I’m being ridiculous, but it’s jmust been too much for too long. The woman is a certifiable psycho-^%@#$. And I’ve only included an eighth of her behaviour in this way-to-long story.. Please tell me someone has a solution (other than shoving her off a cliff), or at least some advice.

This post was submitted by SoVeryDone.