My UFO (unbelievably fabulous observations)

[ClingingToHope]

I just hope to be in as good a place as Dancing Queen in six years.

In six years D11 will be in her senior year of high school and D7 will be a freshman. So I'll be in the middle of teen angst and worrying about how to finance college.

W's family isn't very large and they all have issues. My failure was not remaining neutral and becoming essentially the man of their family as well.

I think that's what W wanted and was one of my big failings. I apologized for that last March and we had a two-week breakthrough that really gave me hope.

When I see the MIL she always gives me a big smile. I don't know what that means. W told me a long time ago that MIL is my biggest booster.

Deep down in "my never give up" place I believe that means some day W will wake up.

But that may be so long from now and she may just keep it to herself because she wouldn't want to admit she's wrong that it won't matter.

I was always cold towards them because of their issues. I'd look around at other extended families and they just seemed much more stable and fun and supportive.

W's family always had some disaster or wayward member that needed bailing out. I felt like they sucked the life out of W.

Finally, in March, I realized that when I married W, I married her family and, like it or not, I owed them my best.

So I was finally ready, but it turned out to be too late.

So now I've seen her little sister once in 10 months -- Christmas -- and her mom five times.

Now they just have each other.