Ouch. So that hurt.

This past weekend we traveled to Minnesota to spend some time with both my brother's family and also to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday. It was kind of a whirlwind trip, with us leaving Friday and coming back on Sunday - but it's just Minnesota, so it's not the end of the world for a quick trip. We spent Friday night just having dinner with my brothers and their families (my mother went as well because we were celebrating my niece's 2nd birthday), and the Saturday we had her party and my dad's party at this great site in Bayport. I thought it would be a big drunk-fest, because my dad's last big birthday was exactly that. Seriously. So I was kind of not really looking forward to that, because I'm just not a drinker, and things with that part of the family are always just a shade...difficult. As it turned out, it was a lot of fun. There are 3 'kids' in my family, and then my stepmother has 3 kids also, so it was the first time all of the 'kids' and grandchildren have been together for a party. It rained pretty hard, and looked like the party would be a bust, but then the sun came out, all our kids played together on the beach (5 little girls, 5 and under, running around nekkid in their underdundies on the beach. It was ADORABLE. Until my stepsister's dog pooped right where they were playing. And then peed in the water right where they were also playing. Seriously.) Because my mom was in town with us, and of course didn't go to my dad's party, there was a lot of awkward coordination of events - trying to be considerate of the need to spend time in both places, and Saturday night ended up a little bit of a disaster. The time visiting was nice, but tempers were short on Saturday, and...well...it was just hard. Sunday morning we would have preferred to sleep in, but in deference to family, we got up early, packed up and checked out...only to find my mom and brother had already left. They were having breakfast a short distance away, so we headed over there, after my brother said they had JUST gotten there. Only to find they were sitting at a booth that would only seat 5 (my brother's family of 4, plus my mom.) Kapow. Not only did they leave without us, they knew we were coming to breakfast, and made NO concession for us to eat with them. Now - I don't think my brother has any particular dislike of my family. My sister-in-law...was the one who was crabby Saturday night, but I still don't think she would have shut us out. My mom can't stand my husband, and may have been the source of the snub - but it all could come back to my brother and sis-in-law actually just wanting to be alone with their kids on father's day, and not knowing how to extricate themselves from my mother. But the long and the short of it is, my family was left out in the cold, and walked away to find a different table (in a different area) for breakfast. I kind of wish we had just left then. All in all, it made for a better ride home, because I didn't have my mother griping the entire way about my husband driving too fast, or my husband driving to slow, or my husband breathing - all of which she griped about on the way up. Ok, not the breathing part, but if she had has the chance, she probably would have criticized that too. I'm trying to just let it all slide, and not take offense - but it hurt, you know? I spend so much time trying to figure out WHY people do things that hurt like that - but I guess in the end, I just have to be ok not knowing - and try to forgive them for doing bonehead stuff like that. And maybe someday I'll learn to just walk away and enjoy the family God gifted me with 9 years ago, rather than trying to please the one I was born into.