Instruction Manual

Have you ever purchased a shelf or cabinet at a store like Ikea? Well you get this box with a million parts in several baggies. You pull them all out along with the instructions and get ready to become immersed in screws, L shaped bars, pieces of faux wood, and more parts than you know what to do with. If you're lucky, you read the complicated instructions and in the end you have a beautiful shelf/bookcase/cabinet to call your very own. Why can't people come with instruction manuals?

Last night while I was at the grocery store hubbs tells me he needs to talk to me about something. Great. That never makes a person feel good. The mind goes a million miles and I start to wonder what it's about. Naturally, we have to wait for lil' man to go to bed first. That means 2 and a half hours of waiting and anticipating. I can be a patient person, but this is a form of mini-torture to me. Deep breath...clear your mind. There's nothing that can be done from the frozen foods aisle. So I wait.

I get home and I can tell that whatever "it" is has been bothering hubbs and he is really trying to put on a pretty face so as not to ruin the evening. Finally we can talk. He tells me that he spoke to his parents for a little while tonight on the way home from work. Uh-oh. I had a feeling about where this was going, but I listen. He tells me that his brother and his wife are pregnant. With twins. Wow! That's....wait...why are your parents the ones sharing this news? Then he tells me that his brother requested they pass the news along because he doesn't feel like hubbs has made much effort towards mending the relationship with his wife. WTF?!?!

Back story--A little over 10 months ago hubbs and I got married. It was beautiful ceremony with our family and friends surrounding us. Love was in the air and all was right with the world. Even if only for a day. The reception was great. We had fun, danced, enjoyed the company of our guests....ate, drank, and were merry. We go off to our honeymoon in Aruba for a week of bliss. Truly perfect.

We come home and start to settle into the real world again. About a week or two after our honeymoon we find out that bro's wife is pissed at us, mainly hubbs, because she said we excluded her when she was here for the wedding and didn't treat her like family. *scooby doo noises* Are you kidding? You've got to be kidding. This isn't for real.

They arrived after 2:00 a.m. Wednesday night/Thursday morning before the wedding and left early Sunday after. Hubbs hung out with them for a good part of Thursday while I finished wedding stuff. She was one of two vegetarians attending the wedding that we made special food arrangements for at our rehearsal dinner and wedding. We took pictures with them and talked to them as much as possible when entertaining and organizing 20ish people for a rehearsal dinner. We made sure to go to their hotel room Sunday morning before their plane left to say good-bye. I had heard she was sick at the reception so I asked her how she was feeling...blah, blah, blah. The list goes on....but somehow we made her feel excluded and not a part of the family. Now she's too emotional to even talk about it to either of us.

10 months later we are still going through this crap. We don't have her phone numbers or e-mail to contact her. We got their new address from his parents when they bought a house, not with the card she sent out to the rest of the family with the change of address. We've had several conversations each with Bro who's told us to give her time because she's still too upset about it all. He knows it's a bit ridiculous, but it's his wife and he has to stand by her. Fine. We've made ourselves open and available to talk whenever possible to resolve the matter and move on. Still nothing from her. (I swear, if I hadn't already met her in person I'd question her existence) Anyway, during this time she's systematically changed Bro from the man he used to be and somehow convinced him that we/hubbs should be doing more.

You mean more than the anniversary card, Christmas letter, birthday card, phone calls, and countless offerings of communication through the only means we have access? Now we're told that hubbs should write her a letter because she's too emotional from the pregnancy to actually talk to us about it. You mean the same letter hubbs was told not to send back in August of last year, and again in February or March, because it would make her mad that it was being discussed? WTF? Is this grade school?

Wait, why is she mad at us again???

She shall be known as the Keeper. Keeper of his balls and Keeper of misery.

So now what? Now we wait. She's making it really difficult for either of us to keep trying. Don't you think 10 months is a really long time to drag this on?

I wish I had the instruction manual for this complicated piece of work. Maybe there are some parts missing...I don't know. Looks like it's all here. It was pretty in the box, but now that it's all open there's just a pile of mess. Grrrr.....

I think I may have to contact the Manufacturer because mine is broken.