| It is often that people will take advantage of the family member that they know unconditionally loves them, while pining for getting love from the other family member with whom’s love is questionable. |
Who held a gun to your head and forced you to buy a house for ingrates? That’s all on you and your husband. |
But really? If these things make the OP feel that she does not want to care for her mother, that's all that matters. She's allowed to be hurt that her mother is writing messages that are negative about her to her brother when she is the one who actually shows up. And it's reasonable and rational that she then change their relationship. She is not obligated to sit around and be treated poorly. |
I just hope that you also own the house. If not, stop paying for it now. |
It’s triangulation which is not something that happens in healthy families. |
But was she being “treated poorly” Really think about how often you have spoken/texted to one person about another person. Ever talked to one friend about another? A sibling about a parent? Your spouse about anyone? Do you think you were treating someone poorly by doing so? |
What? They were insulting her, that’s why she felt she was being treated poorly. |
Read what OP actually wrote. They weren’t “insults”. They were about her, but not insults. |
In this case if she is mentally declining she probably thought your brother would tell you about the reunion. That’s kinda all on him |
| OP, this is the situation in my husband’s family. My DH is the one traveling out of his way to help his mother with almost everything. One sibling is close to her but often unavailable because of his own issues and wife’s family, the other lives far and comes home once a year. I’m fed up after Christmas when they were both there and suddenly my DH (and us) were the ones getting little digs about what we WEREN’T doing. I see through it all - the other two can’t be bothered most of the time, I think she sees it, and so she grasps at what she can get. I see why she does it, but it still pisses me off so I’ll be taking a break from visits for awhile. My DH can keep putting himself in that position on his own. |
I’m going to be a little harsh here, but the biggest lesson you got is to stop reading her texts. You sound like little kids arguing and snooping over who gets the most attention. My parents are much closer to my two other siblings. It’s not a secret. They live by one and talk incessantly about the other. I am not even offended by any of this anymore. But when it comes time to make real decisions about their medical or financial future, I’m the one they call. They know I’m the most level headed in hard situations even though we aren’t the closest. Maybe that’s you and why they want to live near you and not their son. It’s up to you to decide if you are okay with this type of relationship. |
| 9:45 again and I know my family talks about me. They tell me! They complain how I’m a tyrant and not fun. I don’t fly frequently to meet them for their fun outings (because I’m working and busy with life) and I’m always too serious. I don’t like at this as bashing me, I tell them someone in the family has to be a grownup. |