A couple days later, an envelope came from my sister. I looked through it. It was a 'graduation announcement'. She actually mailed it after she made those kind statements to me. The nerve. She honestly does not get it. At the end it read, "No gifts requested". I'm sure!  FISHING! The highlight of our spring was that we had not received an invitation to a graduation party. They were hard to live through. Drive for hours, including picking up my parents. Sit there awkwardly among people I barely recognize and even more who are total strangers. Last time, a little kid of one of my brother-in-laws sister kept calling us names while the mother tried to hush her. Nice. My husband, who is much easier going than I am, about to get into fights with people because the northsiders think that soutsiders are "still picking corn out of our teeth", as my piano teacher puts it. Oops, that's my lifestyle again. In between wiping up dog pus from our 15-yr.-old whippet and separating fighting kids...I take a half-hour piano. So she insults me royally and then has the nerve to send me an announcement. I sent it back unopened. I knew she was graduating. I looked up the date and was going to send her a check. People who know them well enough will know that she's graduating (everybody graduates eventually, it's not like winning a Nobel Prize.) My mother's aunt Louise, whom she hadn't seen her in years would send us invitations to graduation parties that were like a 6 hour drive away. Fishing! Drove my mother up a wall. She  would absolutely kill my sister if she knew she did that. Interestingly, she did not send one to my father. I feel bad about not sending something to my neice, but who knows if  it would actually get to her? I always send them $25 each for their birthday in Aug. Sometimes it's late, a precedence way established by my sister. I never expected anything much for my kids from my sister, (and it's a darn good thing), but if you exchange even cards, then you kind of should not blow them off. We used to call each other's kids on their birthdays when they were young; she started skipping that years ago.

Then over the weekend she left a ranting voicemail at my husband's work: She claims she delayed her trip because I did not go to the nursing home on Friday. I actually did go, and what if I had postponed the day or got sick?  I think the staff is perfectly qualified to function on their own. I think my  big problem is that a)  I expect my sister, who is obviously mentall ill to act rationally, and I have no sympathy for her when she doesn't.My sister went on to say that my mother has bruises on her thigh and stomach!!! Duh, it's from heparin so she doesn't throw a clot. I'll bet she raised hell with the staff.  In the message to my husband, Carol  also addressed my kids' supporting me by saying that she doubts our kids' teachers would approve of such behavior. She really did say that. Does he think it's appropriate for me to involve the kids? Well, of course she's the perfect angelic churck lady...and hey, my kids wanted to look out for me. Heck, if they were Hatfields (to which I believe I'm related) they'd be out there with shotguns. Preachy preachy. Fire and  brimstone. Say one for me if you're so inclined!