Recap
My parents have been divorced for 15 years. During that time, my brother has consistently blown off spending time with my mom. He never has any excuse beyond general flakiness, and plays on her desperation to see him in order to manipulate her into giving him whatever he wants. Yet when she gets duped, she keeps falling for it time and again. When my brother got sent to Iraq, my mom was sick with grief and would go into crying jags if someone even mentioned it- it was as though in her mind, he had died.
/recap
My brother just started his leave from Iraq this week. Because of the inflexibility of my job schedule, I was unable to see him when he came back, but my mom drove two hours with her brother and sister-in-law, with balloons and gifts ready to greet him with my dad and stepmom at the airport.
He never arrived for them. It turned out he had gotten off on a flight four hours prior- informing my dad (who picked him up) but neglecting to inform my mom. So my mom, her boyfriend, and my aunt/uncle waited there for nothing. It gets worse-
Over a month ago, my mom planned a party for my brother when he got back. Since he will be in Iraq for his birthday and xmas, we planned to have a ‘hybrid’ celebration for him. My mom sent email invites to her whole family, and let him know repeatedly that they were getting together November 25th. When he got back, he blows my mom off all weekend (he was staying with my dad, and they live 4 hours away from the rest of us). When she finally gets a hold of him on the phone, he says he’s planning on coming down, but he already promised my dad’s family who live in the Bay Area he’s hanging out with them on the 25th :mad:
Then he has the audacity to leave a voicemail on my phone telling me that he needs my help ‘sorting things out with mom’ because he had apparently promised my dad’s family down here he’s hanging out with them and mom doesn’t realize ‘he already made plans’ :mad: :mad: :mad:
You flaky bastard, you didn’t make plans, you just do whatever’s convenient for you. You can see dad’s family pretty much any time during your leave, but the 25th is the only time mom can get her family together to see you! Yes mom, you know, the woman who took a week’s vacation so she could spend time with you, only to neglect to tell her that your date got shifted (convenient that you mentioned it to dad) thus having her spend the entire time without being able to see you at all. Mom, the woman you talked to three times total since you’ve been deployed for 6+ months, even though you were able to make time to talk to dad 3 times a week. OUR MOTHER, whom you consistently embarass and humiliate by breaking her heart over and over again, who is trapped in a cycle of either being a gullible idiot for allowing this whole thing to repeat, or an unfeeling bitch if she doesn’t turn her whole schedule upside down for you.
We all miss the hell out of you, but you are doing a damn good job of alienating 50% of your entire family in short order. I may have stood by and defended you in previous scheduling screw-ups, but not this time- you have a helluva lot of apologies to make before you go back to Iraq. :mad: