Storytime With Joe...

Okay, yall. Time for a tale...

So, four years ago, just after Thanksgiving of 2007, I got together with my Sweetheart. She was a co-worker of my sister, and she'd been to the house a few times. It was love at first sight, honestly. She made sure it was okay with my sister (as did I) that we start dating, and things were awesome at first.

Then, my sister's life kinda went to crap. She quit her job, her husband got fired (or quit, I don't remember), and so neither of them were working for a while. He'd get a new job, keep it for a few weeks, and then loose it or quit. Things were not good at home. The friendship between my Sweetheart and my sister cracked apart, and I kept seeing my Sweetheart.

Things were looking up for me, in general. I had a girl that I loved, and a job that I enjoyed. This pissed my sister off to no end. She and her husband weren't doing too well, and it resulted in her looking elsewhere. Now, I'm not privy to her private life (such as it was), and as such, I don't know what all went on, but I do know that she kept trying to sleep with her boss, and wanted people to watch her infant daughter while she went and did that.

I refused to help with her stepping out on her husband (rather publicly, which was a huge mistake), and as the youth of today say (or so I'm told), "Shit Got Real". My stuff started disappearing out of my room while I was gone to work or out with my Sweetheart. When confronted, I found that some of my stuff (of which my sister's husband had duplicates or similar things) had been sold at the pawn shop for cigarette money and such. I tried putting locks on both my bedroom doors, but the one that led to the shared bathroom was turned around while I was gone, so that the door could be locked from the inside, but not my bedroom. I wound up putting a separate flip lock so that they could lock me out of the bathroom, and I could keep my doors locked.

My mom (rightfully so) chose my sister's side in the fight between her and my Sweetheart, and so with everything going on, my Sweetheart pretty much became unwelcome at the house. So, eventually, I made the choice to move out with my Sweetheart. We moved out, and I stopped speaking to my mom and my sister. Haven't spoken to either of them for the last four years and change.

Well, last night, I had my mom and her husband over for dinner. At my Sweetheart's insistence, I called her last week, and made the invite, because my Sweetheart couldn't stand to marry me, knowing that we'd refused my mom the option of being at her oldest kid's wedding. She and my step-dad came over, and we had some awesome lasagna for dinner.

It was weird for a brief moment, and then we started talking, and it was like nothing had ever happened. We just fell back into that same old rhythm. It went about as well as I could have possibly hoped. I was terrified for a long time, but then everything just mellowed out and went fine. We invited them back, and Mom invited  us (me AND Sweetheart) over to her place. When Sweetheart asked how this'd work with my sister in the picture, my mom said "It's MY house. If she doesn't like it, she can go hide in her room.". So, yeah. Everything went better than expected.

Now I just have to figure out how to fit my mom into the wedding. Up until now (and even now, since I'm not likely to change my plans) my step-mom has been set as Mother Of The Groom. Ugh. I hate complicated family dynamics.....