Kiss & Make Up

So, yesterday turned out to be a interesting (in a good way!) day. As I'd previously mentioned before, we pretty much cut all ties with Aaron's brother, Tommy, and his wife a couple of days before Christmas. Aaron and Tommy got in a fight over fantasy football (it happens practically every year and I now completely dread football season because of the man-drama) and things got out of hand. Since they had fights all the time, I figured this was going to be the same as always...well it was different. This year it seemed like they were adamant to not talk to each other ever again. I was initially really sad about it because I got along well with my sister-in-law, Samantha, and our oldest boys are only 2 months apart in age, so they play well together and we were looking forward to them growing up together. I finally had started to accept that maybe it was for the best that things worked out this way and we just went on with our lives... until a couple weeks ago. I hadn't talked at all to Tommy or Samantha since a day or two after Christmas where I was essentially told that they weren't going to talk to me either even though I'd had nothing to do with the situation just because of the severity of it and wanting to cut all ties, but then I got a comment response to my Facebook status from Samantha where she was saying hi and that she missed me and the boys. We got to talking on the Facebook instant chat for a while, and it was really nice to hear from her and just talk about things. She even asked if I wanted to get together with her so we could let the boys play. A week later, the same thing happened (turns out we both love to watch the never-ending scripted drama courtesy of "The Bachelor"). I figured that, if anything, at least us wives would keep in contact and the little boys could have some semblance of a relationship regardless of Tommy and Aaron's fight.

Fast forward to yesterday. I'd been home all week working and staying with Jaxson since we didn't have daycare. Aaron's contract job ended on Wednesday and he'd just gotten home from a job interview. Then the phone vibrated. I got up to see who it was and it was a text message...from Tommy. My first thought was that maybe Samantha was texting to me on Tommy's phone but I was wrong. It was Tommy and he wanted to talk to Aaron. He basically said that he was sorry for their fight and he didn't think it was a good thing for issues like this to get in the way of a good friendship and family, and he thought it would be a good idea for the two of them to get together alone to talk out their differences and put their issues behind them once and for all. I handed the phone to Aaron and told him Tommy wanted to talk to him and work out their issues. A few minutes later, Aaron tells me that he's going to go over to Tommy and Samantha's new place (they live like 5-10 minutes away from us now) so they could make amends. And make amends they did. :) A little later Aaron came home... with Tommy, Samantha (now 6 months pregnant with my niece, Alexis!), and their almost 2-year-old Brayden. It was really nice to feel like family again and have all of the issues behind us and just hang out...and look forward to everything together. Praise be to God that they were able to find it in their hearts to forgive and work on building their brotherly relationship up again. I look forward to seeing them again soon. It will be fun now that they live close again... I think there will be many a family game night in our future. :) Not football games though...at least not for now.

In addition, I also hadn't talked to my mother in law since New Year's Eve. I don't think I explained why (maybe I did and cannot remember... either way it's not important as it's all water under the bridge at this point). The short story is that I went to be with my mom on NYE because she had just returned from her Vegas vacation to find out her Riko was dying from cancer and she didn't want to be alone. I essentially ruined our original plans and Aaron was stuck watching the kiddos until I got back which he wasn't happy about. He called his mom to vent to her about our argument (which he shouldn't have and he knew better) so between the stress and frustration of inadvertently becoming involved in our marital spat and the fact that she was in pain from her knee and back, she fell off the bandwagon that night and ended up getting drunk. Normally that wouldn't be an issue, but my mother in law is not a happy drunk... far from it. She has the ability to get angry and nasty. Of course once she's sober she feels horrible about her attitude/behavior, and she truly is a kind person, but it's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when she drinks and when she's sober. She ended up calling me that night while she was intoxicated and said some very hurtful and cruel things to me (which I know she didn't mean in all honesty) about me being a mom and I told her that I had nothing left to say to her and told her not to talk to me. She'd been feeling bad about it all month and wanted to apologize but she was too afraid to do it because she thought I hated her. I didn't hate her and I'd already long forgiven her.

Anyway, she came over to our place last night and made dinner for us and formally apologized to me. I told her I accepted her apology and I was glad to see her. She also hadn't seen the little boys since Christmas and she was so happy to see them...and they were very happy to see her. Jayden kept saying "Yay Nana!" over and over again and was stuck to her like glue. Jaxson flashed her some big toothy smiles and snuggled on her shoulder. It was a good night. Actually it was just a good day in general. Our whole family came back together all in one day.

God is so almighty and gracious and wonderful. Time truly helps to heal as God uses that time to re-mold our hearts, fix the cracks, and make them whole and strong again. Families shouldn't be broken apart and I hope that this has truly taught everyone a valuable lesson. The relationships we have are so important and I hope that they continue to mend and grow stronger...more fortified than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow.