Whenever my sister calls me, she is looking for a fight. she finally found it.
I had felt her thinking about me in recent weeks, while I was dealing with getting the garden going and then the unexpected turmoil at work. I felt the anger and stayed on line and unreachable because I prefer seeking solutions to fighting. We are all in the same sinking boat. Fighting over trivialities will not plug a single damn leak, nor will it purchase a life raft.
Yesterday while I was at work, she left a message. So today I reluctantly called her. She tried to take a shot early on, but it failed. Everything was going really well. We were on common ground on the housing market, the dogs, the weather, work (I do; she hasn't for 25 years), corruptions, laughing about it, etc.
And then she started proselytizing about the poor, poor under first amendment attack Catholic church. Apparently she equates requiring insurance coverage for contraception with a 1st amendment violation. I thought they should be taxed, and then they can make their own rules here. And then she said what she thought was at the root of the country's problems -- everything was wonderful until we rejected morality and specifically the Catholic and Protestant religion. And then I said what I thought was at the basis of the problem, which is the pure profit motive at the expense of your neighbor. And how the past 2 centuries people in this country had unlimited resources, especially after committing genocide against the original people here, and we hit the sweet spot in the climate. But that we were reaching limits on our resources.
And then she had the fucking gall to tell me that as long as I believe that, I will lose everything and I will never have a nice life.
Excuse me? As long as I believe that the planet has limited resources and the climate is changing, versus believing her religious dogma, I will lose everything and never have a nice life?
Yes. That's right. blah...blah...blah.
I repeat. I walk outside and see ticks everywhere that weren't here 9 years ago. I walk into my garden and things are growing that couldn't grow 9 years ago. I see the climate change right in front of my eyes, and as long as I believe what I see in front of me, I will lose everything and never have a nice life?!?!
That's right. blah...blah...blah
I never hear the blah blah blah because for the first time in my entire life, and I mean the very first time, I am screaming at her. All my life she would just take off screaming at me for any little faux pax. Or because she felt like it. This time I've had it.
HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO ME?!? HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING!!!! I HAD A NICE LIFE. I WORKED FOR IT. I EARNED IT. I PAID FOR IT AND IT WAS STOLEN FROM ME!!!!! WHILE YOU SAT AT HOME FOR 25 YEARS, I WAS OUT THERE WORKING AND EARNING MY NICE LIFE AND IT WAS STOLEN. HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING TO ME!!!!
And I slammed down the phone.
I realize she is sick. I realize that, in reality, she has had not got a nice life. She hasn't worked because she was treated badly (like me) and got headaches (like me). But unlike me, she had a husband who could and was willing to support her. All she had to do is believe his family's Catholic religion. Even though she had insurance, she didn't seek help for her various physical ailments, but just suffered and played the martyr. Until the broken ankle and then the cancer.
Her life is no better than mine, and no worse. Only different. I am healthy. She is not. I have a small house in a poor state, which I bought cash. She has a big, lakefront house within 3 hours of NYC, with a giant mortgage to go with it. I lost my career before 50, and have spent 9 years trying to rebuild. Her husband lost his career at 61 and can get social security in a year.
I would rather we talked and figured out solutions to our problems. I do not have the energy to waste on her endless need for endless fighting that solves nothing.
elleng
(136,076 posts)yellerpup
(12,263 posts)what a waste of emotion. You have a nice life and you're still living it. You came to the honest conclusion that you don't have time to pander to her bad moods. Sending light and love for emotional healing and a hearty dose of atta girl for standing up for yourself. Peace.
felix_numinous
(5,198 posts)Congratulations on expressing yourself so well--that must have felt really good. I have never been good at verbal comebacks, better at writing responses--long after--people say crap to me, because I always freeze up while it's happening. I'm getting better at it
The amazing thing is, if it were a stranger saying this stuff to you, it is easier to let it go, but when it is from a relative or loved one, they know you so well and know just how to assert their barbs so it hurts more---I am so sorry you are going through this Magical Thyme.
I've had to tell people that what they were doing was verbal abuse, and if they wanted to have a relationship with me that this has to stop or they will not see or hear from me. You do not have to put up with it.
get the red out
(13,588 posts)Sometimes things get all bottled up because a person doesn't tell someone the truth and tries to be accommodating until it comes pouring out. There's nothing to be done about it, we can only take so much.
Be easy on yourself, maybe you have given your sister something to think about such as can the real love for another human being, a sibling, in the here and now be more important than abstract religious opinion (made up by humans)? That is a question that she should take a look at IMO, hopefully she will.
Prayers for you, Magical. You took all you could, it sounds like.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)often it's because I don't want to say anything hurtful, so I'm trying to be diplomatic.
I didn't want to yell at her "you've been home for 25 years" because part of that is *my* sibling jealousy. Not that I normally feel it, but when I am so exhausted from being the breadwinner and the caretaker, I do.
And I am exhausted. School left me fried. And left me underemployed to be followed by unemployed. And I'm too exhausted to even think about looking for work. After 12 years of rejection, I no longer trust or believe there is a place for me in our current society. Wherever I've found work, I've been sabotaged by co-workers and dumped as soon as the going got tough.
I'm scared. She's scared. I admit it. She doesn't. That's the crux of our difference.
I had hoped we could get along enough that I could live with them temporarily, work nearby and contribute to their mortgage and taxes. No. Way. She is welcome to her beliefs. But she has no right to order me to give up mine, with threats.
BanzaiBonnie
(3,621 posts)murielm99
(31,437 posts)it hurts, doesn't it?
I am sorry she treats you this way.
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)NuttyFluffers
(6,811 posts)love also means sometimes not accepting the bullshit anymore, too.
BlueIris
(29,135 posts)Toxic people are everywhere. Some of them are biologically related to us. We're still entitled to protect ourselves from them.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)It wasn't just the words, which were laughable. It was the threatening tone. Totally out of the blue. I know she is sick, but enough is enough.
I am relieved she is out of my life. I let her back in when she was supposedly dying, but even then it was quite a chore. One of the first things she said to me was "Get rid of that horse!" in the same tone but weaker from the chemo.
If a stranger said that to me, it would be laughable, but in that tone it becomes very unsettling.
And I remember when she called me up the day after I learned of John's death, just ahead of a week of final exams, and she barely got condolences out of her mouth before pissing on 2 hours of my time ranting and raving about tea-party b.s. while I begged her to let me go study. Since the cancer has been in remission she has been impossible.
Enough!
tired of signing up
(5 posts)What we focus on, increases. Namaste, dear child...
Tsiyu
(18,186 posts)She was trying to push your buttons.
And finally mashed the right one (as they say around here.)
I would just say no more contact for the sake of your own mental health.
Wish the best to people like her... and move on away. Sometimes they get it (or get out of it) and you can find a way to relate to her.
If not, don't get hurt trying.
For now, think about how lucky you are and all the possibilities for your own little place.
She can't take what you don't give her. Keep your dreams and find some even bigger ones and let her go be dealt with by the universe...
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)We shall begin this talk with the issue of shielding. Even though you have succeeded in the raising of your vibration, this does not make the Earthly vessel invulnerable. If anything, you are now shining more brightly than ever and are thus attracting those in need with your radiant compassion and light. You radiate goodness, Godliness, a hope for salvation; hence, the people of Earth shall come to you for guidance and direction. They shall cast their sorrows at your feet. And while it is your place to assist them, it is by no means required of you that you take their lower thought-forms and pain unto your own self. Do you understand this, Beloveds? Before working with another, before doing any type of healing-or for that matter, before going to bed or even leaving the house-you must set up around yourselves and your families a shield of Divine protection.
There is no one proper way to do this, no right or wrong method. Find a method which resonates with you, and employ it religiously once or twice per day. A very simple and effective thing to do is to encase yourself in a large orb of crystalline light, in the color of your own choosing. Encase not only yourself and your families, but your pets, your home, your community, your mode of transportation. Invoke your loving guides and ask that they surround your orbs throughout the day. Brother Michael also stands ready to assist, with his sword and shield of protection. There are bands of specialized Angels available to help you also. Quite effective are the jolly and playful Travel Angels, who serve as companionable escorts and protectors, and are able to form a type of barrier around your vehicle. Another point to keep in mind is that you are now glowing so brilliantly that to the gentle travelers departing the planet, you can quite easily be mistaken for a portal of light or exit point that the soul looks for immediately after release from the body. They are dear and pure, these travelers, they are your sisters and brothers. Nonetheless, you do not want them attached to you, nor do you want to be detaining them from returning home. A simple encasement of protective opaque light will hide your glimmer and make you less visible to the various entities in your vicinity.
More
- It gets better......
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)I had started to apply to Lightworkers some time back....I think when I was still in school. But confronted with the application, felt overwhelmed and overtired and didn't. I lost the link back when my hard drive died.
Guess it's the perfect time for their site to find its way to me
It dawned on me this morning that I actually initiated the contact with my sister. It is quite true, of course, that all we have to do is think about people or things.
I had been looking at my options, back even before everything blew up at work, and one of them was to get a job close to my sister and move in temporarily. This was something she had offered back when I was in school. I still have the search list for MLT jobs in her state, from about 2 weeks ago. Then came the crappy word at work 10 days ago. And then days after that I felt her thinking about me, with her anger energy fritzing around the perimeter of my aura. I avoided her phone calls because I could feel her anger energy; instead I spent some time on craigslist looking at the cheapest properties I could find in my own state, and discovered that if I can just sell this place I can still downsize and restructure. I decided I'd better just get the call over with.
Heh! I advertised my place on craigs list yesterday late afternoon. I got my first response last night. Believe it or not, I'm *hoping* to attract a "flipper," but the slow type. The absolutely nicest and most decent contact I'd had on my home last year was from a slow flipper. He was straight-shooting honest. He lives in the houses as he fixes them up, and then re-sells and buys a new place. He needed to sell the place where he was living before he could buy again, and the last thing he told me was that if he got any calls on his place that fit mine, he would forward them on. It was the kind of thing that I would do and have told people. We were both in the same trap...and we knew it.
I know from direct, personal, hands-on experience that, as much as some people in DU despise "flippers," slow flippers provide a real and valuable service. It is hard, hard work and it costs a lot to do anything more than the most cosmetic repairs. They are earning any income.
So I advertised at my higher price, but that I fell behind on maintenance while in school, so am very negotiable while I start tackling the projects. The sooner you buy, the more negotiable I am. I got my first contact on my house last night. It may be a flipper, but they are looking for either land contract or owner financing. I'm not keen on it, but it may be my only way forward at this point. If the banks won't loan, then we have to loan to each other...