Reply to How will I stay sane?!

Forum Index » Family Relationships

Reply to "How will I stay sane?!"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Now that summer is here, our annual family vacation is on the horizon and this year I'm dreading it so much. My parents own a nice beach house in a small  town where there's not much to do besides going to the beach, one of three eateries or an ice cream stand. As per tradition, they spend the summer there and have my sister, me and our families over for two weeks to "reconnect" and spend time together.

Last year, DH and I were able to get out of it because of work commitments. [b]This year there's no way around it.[/b] And while I certainly enjoy being at the beach with my DH and DC without paying for a hotel, I just know the rest of my family will rile me up. My parents don't make living under the same roof with them easy in the first place. Add to that my sister who caters to them like they're her children and my BIL who resents her for it and behaves grouchily towards everybody because of that... Tensions will be running high. We put up with it for the kids, but it's a huge drag.

The thing is, I feel like most of the things that bother me are petty concerns, but I just know that over the course of two weeks my nerves will be fried because of them. It's daily routines like eating at 11:30 already and then needing to be quiet until 4PM because they're napping. It's not being able to open a single window in the middle of summer because the draft is out to get them. It's having to pay for their taxi into town because they're not able to get into our Jeep like it's our fault. It's constantly getting called out for dressing wrong, or doing something wrong, or behaving wrong. It's hearing my sister's constant running commentary on our father's latest bowel movements and colon health. It's not being able to talk about anything other than how miserable everyone's life is. It drives me crazy.

I know it sounds ungrateful, getting worked up over things like that when we get a (relatively) free vacation out of it, but it doesn't make being in close quarters with them any easier. I'm an introvert, I need my space and my time alone and some peace and quiet every once in a while. Just thinking about spending two weeks 24/7 cooped up with these people gives me anxiety. And because the town is so small there's not a lot of escape from them. Aside from the fact that any escape will be followed by being sniped at for being selfish and not spending enough time with them.

Has anybody been in a situation like that and would like to commiserate? Share your tips for not losing your temper and/or patience?[/quote]

Of course there is- you say "No thank you, we already have vacation plans." If you can't do that, you are doing this to yourself.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics