Great topic, Dee Ann. I want nothing to do with my family whatsoever. They've hurt me enough that they no longer get to share my joy, my pain or even my death. Plus I plan to outlive them all because, as my former mother-in-law once said "a long, happy life is the best revenge." I liked her more than her daughter. lol
I don't know if I've shared this story with you but here goes:
The last family member that I was close to was my mother's mother. My Nana was also my mother's antagonist and I firmly believe that my mother sought high office in part to gain her mother's approval. Anyway, I was preparing to leave the city when I got word that Nana was sick and would die in a few months. I knew I would regret not seeing her through to the end so I stayed even though it meant regular contact with the family.
She was wasting away and hadn't spoken or really communicated at all in her last days. I wasn't in the room at the time but was told that all of a sudden Nana sat up and in a clear and angry voice directed at my mother said: "Get off my bed!" Appropriately enough, those were her last words. Despite my lobbying the family refused to etch those words on Nana's headstone. lol
Not so funny was her passing. I was sitting beside her holding her hand and watching helplessly as she gasped for air, choked and was gone. After the emotion had passed my mother took her final revenge. "It's 11:55 (pm) and its also David (my brother) and Leigh's anniversary. If we all agree that she died at 12:05 (am) the anniversaries won't coincide." I never agreed. For me, the time of her death is sacred and its not for me to change that. Lying seems to be a way of life for my mother.
The epilogue is unfortunately similar:
My mother and aunt pressured my uncle, a judge, to step aside in their favour as executors of Nana's will because he and my aunt had separated. In her will it clearly states that I was to recieve "the Lladro statues". Pural. Instead, my aunt presented me with a single statue of a little boy. "Where's the other one?" I asked. Everyone pretended not to hear. I went to her place for lunch and told her that because I was leaving I wanted her to hang onto the little boy for me. I watched as she put it in her cabinet next to a statue of a little girl. They were clearly a set. A couple years later when I asked her for my inheritance - "the statues" - she said the little girl belonged to her, a wedding gift from a friend. When pressed she would neither identify the friend nor provide me with the serial number so I could verify online that they were not a set.
Lying, as Peck said, may not be the cause but is certainly a symptom of evil. With family members like these, I'm sure you can understand why I don't want them in my life or anywhere near my death.
