The Outlaws No Show

This baby girl just exudes happiness! All the way down to her toes. ;)

Yes, I realize I'm clearly biased, but how do you not just love her???

Apparently,because she's related to ME and if you're my mother-in-law. 

MIL was a no-show for Lily's 1st birthday.  Can't say I'm truly surprised after things didn't go as planned at camp.  Nor did she call, text, send smoke signals to her only child on his birthday two days prior to Lily's.

See, I don't understand people like that. So angry, bitter and hell-bent on being "right" and in control that you forego life.  While Lily knows no difference because in all honesty, she doesn't even know her grandmother. The woman has seen Lily a total of SEVEN times in the year she's been alive. Yes, I've kept count because of the absurdity of it.  She lives 5 minutes away from us.

I mailed an invitation to George's parents because was the right thing to do. They were still at their summer home, but came home the previous Wednesday (our anniversary). Instead of making any contact to acknowledge or rsvp one way or the other, she simply sent my father-in-law up to our house promptly at the start of Lily's party to get attention bring a card. He refused to stay because my MIL would have been pissed.

George asked him what the deal was surrounding his own birthday and the inability to have anything to do with Lily and the other kids and even his dad not acknowleding his birthday and simply got shoulder shrugs. 

While, of course, it's my outlaws inlaws loss, it still is hurtful to my husband. And that is hurtful to me.

As I said in that previous post, I'm so proud of him for expressing his feelings and not holding back about it all. It just doesn't take away the hurt.  The last thing he said to his dad, "You all have made yourselves clear. It's my daughter's first birthday, I have to go." 

And that is why we have family we choose, in our lives. We never take that forgranted.

I quit letting that woman berate and hurt me a long time ago. There are 938430523 other elements that fall into my feelings as well as George's, but trust me, the feelings are well beyond justified.

I haven't quite figured out how I'm handling sending her "thank you" for the card, but she doesn't change who I am regardless of her attempts.

Character.

I have it.