Reconciliation

I have said for a long time that it isn't worth holding a grudge. You never know when someone can be taken from you and so you need to cherish every moment. BUT, my husband's youngest sister and I have fought and battled since before I got married, so we are talking 10-12 years. I was holding big grudges with her. I hated going to family functions because I knew we would fight. She would criticize my clothes, she would criticize what I ate, she criticized everything. (I did things to her too, but I'll spare myself that embarrassment!)

One time at one of these family get-togethers she cornered me and screamed at me with her finger in my face for about 10-15 minutes. I cried and screamed things back. It was ugly. None of the other family members stopped, they just let us fight.

So anyway, we have fought and bickered all these years and in the last year or so we started to mend the relationship. Slowly. Little bits at a time.

Last night I had a huge project to conquer before the night was over so at 6:00 pm I realized I could not get it done by myself. Mr. Man was working so I couldn't get his help. I immediately thought of this particular SIL. I called her and I explained what I was working on and when my dead line was. Without me even having to ask, she said "Want me to come over and help?"

We worked together for 4 hours and finished my project. During that time, after I got the kiddos in bed, we started discussing things. The fights we had. The time she screamed at me -- turns out all a big misunderstanding! She heard through the grapevine that I had made a nasty comment about her (translation: the thing I said had gone through many, many people and by the time she heard it the whole wording was flipped around, upside down, backwards and sideways!) So we worked that one out. She apologized for things she said and did, she said there are so many things she wasn't proud of. Then I apologized for things too, I even had to confess to things she didn't even know about (no, I am not proud of those moments!) We hugged. We cried. We hugged and cried more. It was so good in a weird way to get this cleared up and out in the open. Such a relief!

ON a sad, sad note.... there are only 52 days until Christmas....eeeeekkk!!!!!