Family Trip or Divert to Hawaii in avoidance maneuver?
I will give as brief a summary of the situation as I can, as it is complex to say the least.
DH and I have been together almost 7 years. DH was with BM for 25 years starting in high school. Children of their marriage are (to me) SD25, SS21 and SD15. All SKIDS live out of state with BM, who was an adulteress and is currently remarried. Both BM and her husband are alcoholics and narcissists (by all accounts). DH also has ExGF that has glommed onto BM and the kids.
I have my own set of BK's, DS22, DS17 and DD13. ExHB is mostly absent and not eligible for unsupervised visits. My kiddos love DH for the most part and we don't have issues in our house.....until DH's kids present themselves and DH turns into a jerk.
SS21 got married last year to SDIL. There are 3 children under 3, the youngest of which is SS21's. The other two are not. SS21 has been into drugs, heavy alcohol use and has on occasion tried to dismiss me from my own home because he was "here to see my dad, not you and your kids". He's been better in recent years, but one just not just forget those words. There was also an entire month-log visit of being treated like "the help" in my own home. Nobody (including DH) helped cook, clean, or do anything to help. And, I was hardly acknowledged or spoken to. The last time SS21 and SDIL visited, they were smoking dabs in my yard where the neighbors could easily see them. DH would not correct this, and balked when I asked that they do their drugs off my property.
We attended their wedding last year, which cost us thousands. We offered to help pay for the event, and were declined. (We were later shamed by BM and others for "not contributing"). SS21 clearly did not tell them we offered and he declined. We were not told the wedding time was moved up by half an hour, until 15 minutes prior to the ceremony starting. And we were never told that the creepy ExGF was going to be the wedding planner, putting us in direct contact with her. What a nice surprise that was. I am still disturbed that SS21 and SDIL did not think to share that tidbit of information. We were fully prepared to see her at the wedding - as a guest, but certainly unprepared to be bossed around by her. Not to mention she was telling everyone that SS21 in fact had 3 mothers (including herself). It was, in no uncertain terms, a shizzshow. I could not get out of there fast enough. It took months to get over.
During this wedding fiasco, SD25 shared that she and her fiance had decided to get married overseas. DH will not travel overseas for security reasons. SD25 was trying to coax him to attend, and said it was "parents only" and that my kids were not welcome. She then proceeded to inform us that DH's ExGF was coming too. That was a big 'ol heck no from us. She is now estranged from us both and remains blocked on my social media, which I recently decided to shut down entirely.
SD15 is still under CO for visitation. It is now almost time to go get her (DH doesn't want to fly her both ways). She's shared things said inside our home with BM, so I am now not as trusting of her as I once was. In the meantime, SS21 and SDIL have DH's only grandchild, whom he has yet to meet. DH wants to spend a couple of days with his precious son, and grandson. I want nothing to do with it. I am trying not to be rude, but I never got an apology for the apparent setup at the wedding. And I am not going to apologize for being not so nice to the family interloper (ExGF).
I don't trust or like any of the SKIDS at the moment. I used to have such high hopes for overcoming their falsely placed blame that I somehow forced their dad to move out of state. In fact, I counseled that he should think of his kids and how they would respond to that. (He didn't care and put himself first anyway.) There is no room for me in their equation, and the ExGF (who they hated before) is firmly inserted into their lives.
So, I am thinking that I would be better off to grab a flight to Maui with my kids and avoid this dumpster fire in its entirety. Otherwise, I am going to end up ditching DH and the SKIDS and staying with friends when our trip passes through their area, and rejoin DH once we are due to leave again.
Any thoughts?
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Comments
Hanging out with DH and his
Hanging out with DH and his kids sounds miserable. Maui sounds fun.
Are you sure your DH isn't somehow fanning the drama flames? Has he taken any steps to reduce the drama or see that you are respected? He sounds like kind of a mess.
Not fanning
but he is very non-confrontational due to guilt over leaving them behind. I believe he is terrified of becoming estranged from them. He also has zero ability to establish boundaries with them, particularly when it comes to them disrespecting me.
TBH.. I would send my husband
TBH.. I would send my husband without me on this family forced march.
I would stay home.. do something with my own kids. or go to hawaii with them.. lol.
My vote is MAUI!!
My vote is MAUI!!
Divert! Divert!
Please divert to Hawaii and enjoy hearing about the dumpster fire afterward. Don't put yourself through that.
No doubt - Hawaii. Why in
No doubt - Hawaii. Why in the world would you want to spend time with the skids?
And why in the world do you put up with DH's behavoir with the skids - who are pretty much all adults anyway, but for the one surly teen?
Only because
most of my time with DH is good together, and he is very good with my kiddos. I try hard to keep the peace with him, and not make things difficult. During the majority of the year, I have no contact with the older SKIDS and we have relative peace - no arguments, no violence. SD15 will reach out occasionally to say hi. She has been severely emotionally damaged by the divorce and her mother's narcissisism and alcoholism. I felt bad for her until she blabbed about something said in our home. Now it is, just polite civility. There will be no more going on walks to talk with SD15 about how she's doing, what we can do to help, etc.
If you are confident and go
If you are confident and go with DH, be radiant, scorch the roaches with your bright presence, you and DH be on each other's arms and clearly an unassailable team and... be prepered to shred anyone and everyone who gets out of line, then go and sizzle the roaches.
If you are done with all of them, including DH when he sniffs their asses and coddles them, then got to Maui with your kids.\
Yours may just be the most toxically convoluted situation I have ever heard about.
Take care of you.
Thank you for the validation
It means a lot to have someone else see the situation for what it is. DH loves to tell me it's not that bad, and that SS21 and SDIL didn't do anything on purpose. Although he cannot stand SDIL. SS21 can do no wrong in his eyes though. Sometimes I feel like he is trying to gaslight me so that he can have the best of both worlds. I guess I am tired of trying to be some kind of martyr, and am about ready to take whatever heat comes (and be accused of being selfish).
I Vote.....
Maui!! For what it's worth, if I were in your shoes....and trust me, I could be.....I'd go to Maui.
Maui with your kids (from
Maui with your kids (from another SM who is ever-so-grateful that her awful skids live in another state)! Yea, and watch that 15 yo. When my SD was that age, she'd Facetime with Mommy in our house and give her tours, share info that was not to be shared, etc. (no boundaries).
Spying
Luckily, I think the spying thing is new. On an aside, BM did try to invite herself to stay at our home a couple of years ago. She drove out with SD15 (then 13) to pick up the horse I was selling to SD. (BM was mad that I wouldn't give SD the horse for free - even though I was giving her a heck of a deal - charging less than I paid.) I told BM she couldn't stay with us and that it was rude to invite oneself somewhere. I got called a litany of names, which I of course one-upped and that was the end of that. She wasn't even allowed to use my bathroom. But I digress. SD15 is usually the best of the bunch, and tends to cause less issue. The others are fake, narcissistic twaddles, just like BM. But, the shortening of visits has started, and SD15 will be down the road before I know it.
A Bad Day in Maui
Is still better then being disrespected by SK. MAKE sure DH knows he's invited to Maui if he wants to go. And enjoy yourself and bio kids. As you get older you have so little time left for good memories
Im Team Maui...except
How are they doing in the aftermath of the devastating fire they have had? There are a great many lovely places to visit and there are some relief events happening too. Touring definitely helps the economy recover from disaster, as long as there are sensitivities.
https://mauinow.com/2024/06/06/maui-wildfires-continue-to-impact-economi...
My family as always really loved Hawaii and Maui is a great place of much diversity, and of course the volcano!