Bizarro World

Have you ever been in a situation where you know you did the right thing and someone else did the wrong thing, yet somehow you are being blamed? I find myself in those predict aments a lot. More than I care to think about. The one that really took the icing on the cake occurred two years ago. I have a sister-in-law (my brother-in-law’s wife) who really likes to talk. I mean, non- stop won’t shut up to catch her breath talk. She also has a nasty habit of getting drunk at her kids birthday parties. When she gets drunk, it’s a box full of chocolates. In other words, you never know who you are going to get. She might be over sexed, or goofy. She could be insulting or violent. On this night (my younger nephew’s party) she was all of the above. I don’t know why my husband and I decided to stick around after everyone else left. It was getting late and it was past our kids (ages 7 & 3) bedtime. I was watching our kids in the living room while my husband, his brother, and SIL were outside. Next thing I know, my husband is screaming his lungs out. SIL was drunk and proceeded to tell my husband that we were horrible parents. We were ignoring the fact that our oldest was autistic (he is not. We took him to several doctors and they all said his problem was anxiety. We also have paper proof of this). Her other issue: my husband had just started a new job and, for whatever reason, my father-in-law thought it would be a wonderful idea to tell this woman what his new salary was going to be. I’ll bet it stung, because neither of them work (they have 3 kids), live in a huge house with a large mortgage/taxes. She felt the need to berate my husband because she “knew what she was talking about”. When my BIL tried to tell her to stop, she punched him. During this, the kids and I were observing through the window. I quickly got my kids and our belongings together. When they came in, we went out. My husband stayed inside the house where I heard screaming and items being thrown. I called the police. You see, my BIL is a gun enthusiast. I was afraid of something worse. I waited in the car with my kids for over and hour. All the while trying to calm their fears. Trying to calm my fears.
My husband finally came out and we made the hour-long drive home. We didn’t talk in front of the kids about what happened. Once they were in bed, he told me everything. The stuff I knew about: her opinion of us being bad parents, our oldest being autistic, jealousy over his earnings. Then, he told me the things I didn’t see: BIL & SIL trying to strangle each other, SIL rocking back and forth in a fetal position and her non-sensical ramblings, and how she begged my husband to fuck her. All while her two sons watched. My husband & I were disgusted. We wondered what we had done to deserve this treatment. What did our three children do to deserve this treatment? SIL called to apologize the next day and also sent a Facebook message. Then, she decided to post one of those oh so regal quotes on her Facebook wall: “People call me a bitch, but it’s because I speak the truth.”
Does that sound like someone who was sorry for what she did? She also told my father-in-law that she wasn’t sorry and stands by every word she said.
Now that you’ve heard this story, who do you think is the one getting blamed?
My husband!
Why you might ask? Because he is not forgiving and forgetting.
It’s almost like we’ve crossed into a parallel universe where night is day and so forth.
This type of thing happens a lot to me, though. If my husband hadn’t told me his family was dysfunctional before I met him 20 years ago, I would’ve thought I brought bad luck into his life.