I got an email from my brother's W last night. My nieces have been talking again (their interstate internet grapevine), and we now know when the wedding will be for my oldest nephew, W's sister's son: December 1.
The significance in this is that I have been playing wait and see with my W, to see if she will ever volunteer any information about her sister's family. W knows I love her sister and family as if they were my own, and yet she has obviously intimidated them into minimizing contact with me and my side of the family. (My wonderful nieces are pretty much rogue and defiant of W's wishes.)
I know blood is thicker than water, and my SIL has tried to minimize communication with me, especially since W would be upset with her if she did talk to me. I told my SIL that I understood, and advised her to do nothing to raise W's ire. W holds a grudge like the worst case I've ever seen, and my SIL knows this better than anybody -- so she has to be cautious.
I know my W is going to take my S's with her to go to the wedding. I am curious to see how she plays this, as it will be a serious acid test for how the rest of our lives will be handled.
(1) Will I get an invitation to the wedding myself. (I am not counting on it.)
(2) Will W tell me when the wedding will be?
(3) When will W ask me to take our S's on a trip, thereby giving up my weekend with them (December 1st is on a Saturday.)
(4) Will she even tell me what the trip is for? Or whether it is out-of-state or not?
(5) Will W, after traveling over 800 miles to Mississippi for this wedding, have the decency, to allow my mother, who lives only 42 miles away from my SIL's family, to see her grandsons? Or even allow them to talk to her?
(6) And assuming with some certainty that I will not be welcome at the wedding, will the OM be there? Will the OM get to travel down there to be with her and my S's?
So far all W has acknowledged to me is that our nephew has gotten engaged, and nothing more. If W plays according to her current modus operandi in recent months, she will keep me in the dark right up to the very last second, and thus give me no chance to plan my own trip. Then she'll say, "Aww, too bad; I'm sorry you won't be there. You nephew would really have liked to have you at his wedding. But we all know that your job is so important to you." Blah, blah, blah. (W has done this on so many occasions of late -- especially with parent-teacher meetings. And then she has the gall to complain to me that I never participate in important family matters!)
Unfortunately for W, I am fully awake now and paying very close attention to what is going on. And I am ever wary of her continual tests she sets me up for, to fail.
