Easter–Family

We don’t usually do much for Easter. I actually worked some today as did Sylvia. We went to my mom’s house for dinner with my brother and his family. Jack had to work, so he stayed home! We arrived around 3:00 and let the kids hunt for eggs. We then had a very nice dinner. My brother and his wife seemed to be a bit moody, but we just kept on with our day and tried to ignore it. Part of being around family is just getting through it. The kids(they have a girl who is 10 and a boy who is 4) had a great time hunting for eggs. They were all three being nice to each other and getting along. I had taken a picture of the three of them and a video of Ethan hunting for eggs. I posted them on Facebook, like I usually do with pictures. I had done this over the Christmas break with my niece and nephew with not a word being said to me.

About 30 minutes after eating dinner, I hear my mother and brother arguing. I was outside with the kids and Sylvia. It ended with him yelling at her and dropping the “F” bomb. He then left. My brother and his wife had come in separate cars so it was fine that he left them there. After my sister-in-law left I asked my mother what happened. We both agreed that he had been moody since he had gotten there. She said that he had mentioned he video and pictures that I posted and seemed aggravated. She had sighed in response to this and said, “just don’t” meaning don’t argue with your sister. He, of course, took offense to this and argued with her and left. We all agreed he was just looking for a reason to leave and probably didn’t want to come over to begin with.

I hope I never yell at my mother like he did today. He was a jerk at Christmas to me and now this. I love him, but don’t understand him. I looked back in my iPhone at Facebook, and I have posted several pictures of his kids and videos since Christmas, with not one word(we are friends on Facebook) being said to me that he prefers NOT to have his kids pictures on Facebook. Was he just looking for a reason to argue with someone today. I told him back at Christmas that I was done with him until he apologized. He finally then told me that “we are family and family doesn’t have to apologize to each other, we should just understand”. I promptly told him that was not how I felt. That is the same LAME excuse my dad used when he hurt me a few months ago.

What are your thoughts? Should family JUST understand when you are mean to them and not expect an apology? I am not sure if Jack would still be standing if he ever spoke to me that way, even if he were 42. Hopefully, I will never have to find out!