Rocks threatening my relationships

I am not a happy man. I am unhappy for a signal reason. Mrs S, to whom I am devoted besides all else has been in tears. The root cause has been my Mother in law. My infantile, manipulative, egocentric Mother in law. My words were chosen with great care and are an accurate description of the parent in question.

Today we have spent most of our time escorting her to do whatever she wanted, which isn't much. I personally went out of my way to get her what she needed only to have a tearful tantrum worthy of a two year old with ADHD thrown in my face. My reaction to such overt ungraciousness was instant and would have been applied even had she been my own Mother. "Don't throw a paddy at me!" I snapped. "Pull that one more time and I won't take you out again." I'd been trying to help her choose a new walking stick at the time (In the fifth store for that one specific purpose). Mrs S was not impressed I could tell.

We left Mother in law at Sister in laws apartment where she is staying as she requested. Sister in law is well off, and has a nice residence in the middle of town with sea views and all mod cons. We cannot make use of it because of my dog, but Mother in law is there because Sister in law wants it so. We are below the salt in her estimation because Sister in law has a high flying job in the USA which pays lots of dosh. I am merely a Technician, and Mrs S a Teacher. We get by, just.

This evening Sister in law calls via Skype just as I'm going out for a walk with the dog. I come back from walking dog to find Mrs S on the verge of tears. She's wandering about the house complaining about how untidy everything is and how there's no space for everything. I'm supposed to deliver a project on Monday, and I can't focus on my work while Mrs S is muttering and throwing things about. In the end she is having a full blown crying fit and I have to shout at her to get her attention.

Shouting at my beloved is not something that I do lightly. She is my raison d'etre, my core, my most precious jewel. In my eyes she always shines and I am truly proud as a man can be of her. Yet she is muttering about Sister in law making her feel inadequate.

After half an hour of holding my tearful other self in my arms and talking softly to her, I found out that Mother in law phoned Sister in law and has been telling lies about Mrs S. Sister in law has been taking Mrs S to task about it. Hence the tears.

Well, Mother in law goes back to England in just over three weeks and as far as I'm concerned she can stay there. All previous promises regarding bringing her over once our Permanent Residency is approved are hereby revoked. All bets are off. I will not have my dearest one reduced to tears by some manipulative old crone every second day of every week for no better reason than the old woman isn't getting precisely what she wants at the very instant she wants it, and I'm damned sure I won't tolerate having tantrums thrown at me for no good reason. I've successfully helped steer two adolescent girls through to womanhood and I've had quite enough of that kind of behaviour thank you very much.

A promise may be a promise, but there are limits.