Family Gossip

My dad's side of the family is known for carrying grudges. My father did not speak to his own father for decades. I remember being introduced to my grandfather at a family funeral by a nosy aunt and my father was absolutely furious. He then did not speak to that aunt for years and years. My sister and my father actually didn't speak for about a year when I was in early grad school and I remember my dad calling me to get gossip about her. Ha. Good times. 

So.  Keep all of that in mind as I tell you this story that amuses me greatly.

Major players

My sister: May
My mom: My mom
My sister's husband: Buddy
My sister's mother-in-law, Buddy's mother: Carly

My mom and my sister May live in a different state from me. My sister is married to a guy named Buddy. Buddy's mom is an elderly lady named Carly (as I type this I realize that makes my own mother an elderly woman and I refuse to admit that at all). At a certain point several years ago, my mom and Carly retired at roughly the same time. The moms decided to buy tiny houses and put them on my sister and Buddy's property which is about forty acres of a mostly wooded property in middle America. Their reasons for this particular course of action are a bit mystifying to me, but basically they wanted to have companionship, be near their children (not me, I guess), and save money. 

I spent months trying to convince my mom and May that this was a bad idea and that my mom should rent an apartment in the nearby town and come visit May all the time, but they kept on with the tiny home idea.

My mom fronted the money for all of this with the understanding that Carly would pay her back for the costs of the tiny house and that my mom and Carly would pay May and Buddy lot rent.  So, there are two tiny homes on May and Buddy's property, along with the so-called "Big House." My mom and Carly basically just slept in their tiny homes, but spent most of their time in the Big House, where they did laundry, cooked, bathed, and pretty much lived their lives.

This worked well for a bit. There were occasional moments of tension, but they bumped along. Until Christmas of last year. May and Carly got into a huge fight at Christmastime, with Carly telling May that May doesn't treat Buddy right (which, to be fair, might be a fair point) and May telling Carly that she won't be told what to do in her own house. They have not spoken to each other since then, which is over five months as I write this. (This is where the story from above fits into this. May has definitely taken the stubbornly holding onto grudges trait from my father.)

Meanwhile, poor Buddy is stuck going back and forth between his wife and mother. He's constantly ferrying Carly around because she can't drive and she won't ask my mom or May to take her places. Carly won't eat at the Big House anymore, so Buddy walks her meals to and from the Big House for her. And May and Carly constantly complain to him about the other person. It's a big mess for him and I honestly feel terrible for him. (Except for the fact that he was also in support of the Tiny House Plan from the beginning and a tiny part of me feels like he really brought this onto himself...)

And my mom? My mom tries to invite Carly when she's going to do things like shopping and going out to eat or whatever, but Carly barely speaks to my mom who has tried to be Switzerland throughout this whole thing. I think Carly feels some guilt regarding my mom because guess how much she has paid my mom back for the tiny house? I don't need to tell you that it's zero dollars, do I?  

Meanwhile, I just sit back and watch the whole thing unfold from another time zone and enjoy the juicy texts my mom sends me.

Today's texts from my mom:

I found out today that all of Carly's dirty clothes are in her shower. She won't take them up to the Big House because she doesn't want to run into May.

Evidently she just buys new at the dollar store. Is that crazy or just weird? Hit me over the head if I get like this. 

Question for you:

What's your family drama?  I want the juicy deets!