Excuse Me if I Sound Bitter

My brother and his wife are separated and have been since the summer. They have two children -- a young son and a daughter who is 18 (and five months pregnant).

When I spoke with my sister-in-flaw about the separation, she was angry. Okay, I get that. At one point, the conversation went like this:

Sister-in-flaw: Your brother is in for a big surprise. I'm going to screw him over.

Me: You do realize who you're talking to, don't you?

Sister-in-flaw: What?

Me: I'm his sister. I may still be friends with you but you are talking about my brother. I'm not going to get involved in your drama, but I'm also not going to sit idly by and watch my brother get screwed over by you.

Sister-in-flaw: But I thought you were on my side.

How dense do you have to be?

It did not end there. I mean that conversation ended, but her ability to amaze me didn't end.

When mom was in the hospital just before she passed away in November, my step-father managed to get hold of my sister-in-flaw and let her know (she had no telephone). Shortly after that, she called me to tell me how sorry she was. I appreciated that and I told her so. Then she started to launch into a laundry list of horrible things my brother was doing to her. I said, "I have enough going on in my life right now and I don't need to deal with your shit". And I hung up on her.

Still does not end there.

My brother had just left Edmonton to come home when my mother suffered her heart attack and we had no way of reaching him. As a family, the rest of us made the decision to remove my mother from life support but we also decided to give my brother one more day to arrive home to be there for it. My sister-in-flaw knew that and she knew we were going to be at the hospital the next day to remove my mother from life support. My brother made it on time and he was there with her at the end.

When he left the hospital, there were police officers waiting for him. His story (and I only have his side) is that they were there so that he could let them (and my sister-in-flaw) into the house so she could get her belongings. I'm not sure if there's more to that story or not -- but my brother did drive away in his own van -- not the police cruiser.

My sister-in-flaw thought it was appropriate to send the police to wait for my brother on the very day he just watched his mother die?!!!?

Still doesn't end there.

She decided that that was also an appropriate day to serve him with court papers for sole custody of their son.

Now I know why they invented the word "c*nt".