Golf and Other Things

I've gotta vent on a couple issues. One kinda leads into the other so I'm just going to start by telling about my day yesterday. This could be a long one. Grab a drink and enjoy.

I had some semi plans with my brother for a round of golf scheduled for early yesterday (Sunday) morning. By semi I mean, we talked about it, and said we would meet up at a course for a nice round of golf to catch up on our lives and swing some sticks. The only stipulation that I had was that it had to be early as I had a my wife's birthday party to attend at 1:00. I would say that was a rather important event. Her birthday was the day before, therefore she didn't mind me going as long as I was in time for this party. No problem, I'll just go early.

I got up pretty early, got ready for golf and waited. And waited. And waited. Now, I was up at 6:30 and ready to go by 7:00. I tried a couple times to get in touch with my brother but was pretty unsuccessful. At 8:30 I told my wife, I was leaving. I was pretty sure he'd call and he only lived 10 minutes from the course. I was on my way and tried to call a few more times but no answer. I sent my wife a few text saying I was pretty upset with him and if he wasn't there when I got there, I was golfing alone.

I arrived at 9:00 and paid for golf and was getting my stuff on the cart when my brother called. I told him I was at the course getting ready to tee off. He told me he'd be there in 10 minutes as he had fallen asleep. No problem, we'd still be OK time wise with just the 2 of us. I went to the putting green to practice as that seems to be the part killing me this year. I didn't realize how much time had gone by until I heard my brothers truck pull in. It's loud and has a distinct rumble. Even my deaf ass can hear it. I drove up to the lot and there he is........... with his father in law and his brother in law. And it was now 10:00. I was pretty ticked off at this point but decided to let it go as I wanted to enjoy myself.

His In Laws are good people but not my favorite. The brother in law can't keep track of his score and doesn't follow too many golf rules which drives me insane. Oh well, can't win em all right?

We played the round in 4 hours. Now if you do the math, that makes it 2:00 when we finished up which makes me 1 hour late for something I still have to drive 45 minutes for. I put the 2 and 2 together and surrendered to the fact that I was gonna get my ass chewed out. I called my wife, she was already there and was very short on the phone, understandably. So off to the party I went. Oh and by the way, I beat everyone on the course. I putted better than I have all year.

I got to the party by 3:00. Everyone was just sitting down to eat. No problems what so ever. My wife ended up not being mad at me at all but was not too pleased with my brother. So we sat and ate with some great conversation. I always enjoy my sister in law and her husbands company. We get along great and things are pretty smooth with us. My mother in law and father in law, who are divorced are a different story. My mother in law, I hate. That's a whole new topic I'll get into another day. My father in law, well, he's a coward. He strives for attention from his son, who is again, another story. He takes his son's word as gospel even if it's bashing other people. This leads to animosity between us and I have felt it for years. I think it started when he accused me of poisoning his daughter, my wife. Nice guy huh? He blamed me for her getting sick.

He built a new house and needed to furnish it. I work for a furniture company so I told him to mention me and he could get a discount. Pretty simple right? Well, he went and bought new furniture and had it delivered. This he told me yesterday. I said "great, did you mention me and get the friends and family discount?" He said no, he got a discount through his son, Keith. I said, "oh really, they gave you a discount for someone that was fired from the company a year ago and does nothing but bad mouth the company?" I said, "I'll be sure to mention that to the sales manager." He didn't like that at all and it ended the conversation immediately.

I had a conversation with my wife 2 weeks prior to this discussing how I feel like her dad doesn't really care for me. She told me I was reading him wrong and I was fine. By some of the things he said yesterday, he verified it all for me. I was pretty pissed to say the least and was quite happy when he left.

The discussion that came afterwards with my wife's sister and husband made me feel 100 times better. We discussed our life's and why her dad is the way he was. They pointed out the root of the problems and made me realize, he's more of an ass than I thought. I don't want to deal with him or my mother in law any more than I have too. I will tolerate them for my wife's sake but she is even in agreeing that they suck. I have enough of my own issues in life and don't need the added stress. I love my sister in law and her husband more than ever and thank them for there kindness and understanding.

By the end of the day, I was beat. I wanted to get to bed.

I just don't understand why family has to be backstabbing idiots sometimes. My family is whacked, my wife's family is whacked. I don't ever want my kids to say this stuff about me. It just gives me more incentive to be a better parent.