3.
“I visited my mom’s house with my husband a few years ago for a holiday, and my sister-in-law, who I’d never met, seemed to hate us right away. The final straw was the night before I had to make the three-hour drive home, my allergies were flaring up, and I always struggle to relax before long drives, so I went to bed early while my husband stayed up watching TV. My SIL went into the living room and asked why my husband was watching TV alone. He explained that I needed to drive tomorrow and he didn’t want to keep me up. She said that was unhealthy, and that it meant we had a bad relationship if we weren’t joined at the hip 24/7. (Utter nonsense, BTW.)
“He got sick of her lecturing him about our relationship and retreated to my room to read until he was tired. I slept restlessly and felt like hell for the drive home, and then I guess my SIL fed my brother some bullshit and he messaged me on Facebook saying weird, hateful, dehumanizing stuff about my poor, innocent husband who was just bewildered by how his consideration for me turned into so much drama.
I messaged my mom, explained the situation, and asked her if she could talk with my brother about his hateful words and hurtful behavior. Instead, she went off on me about ‘always running to [her] for help,’ and wouldn’t stand up for me or my husband.
This wasn’t new, but what was new was realizing that my mom was not only refusing to help, but also my family’s attacks were no longer limited to me but also to people around me.
There were lots of things that made me reduce contact through the years, including this. I never again went to my mom’s for the holidays, and I didn’t see or speak to my brother again until my mom died. I’m still keeping him at a distance, and I hope he hasn’t missed that my SIL is now his ex-wife, and I’m still married.”
—metm
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ravenishak/toxic-family-signs
