shock and awe

What kind of person gets angry at her brother and shows it by having his family pack up and leave in the dark?  I’m still in shock.  I still can’t believe we’re at a Days Inn instead of Aunt Ellen’s farm.  I still can’t believe she and Jamie were arguing about the fact that she is the ONLY one (her sentiments) in the family who cares about family.  And I guess the way you show how much you care about family is to get angry at them, tell them to pack up and leave, and alienate your only nieces and nephews (Ellen is the only one who wants to see Aunt Ellen again).  Apparently, Aunt Ellen is very stressed out.  Aunt Ellen drinks an incredible amount of alcohol.  I explained to the kids last night that maybe she was drunk, that she does love them a lot (but I’m having trouble with the idea that someone who loves you would make you leave her house because she is mad at your dad), that she was really stressed out, but they were all completely devestated.  They really enjoy being at the farm, the love hanging out with her and the animals and had been looking forward to being with her at the farm for a very long time.

So, last night, when we should have been eating the dinner I made, we frantically tidied the trailer, stowed stuff, packed stuff away, hitched up the van in complete darkness, inched backwards down a dark dirt driveway and drove to Neenah looking for a place to stay.  We had no idea where to go and after trying a couple places ended up at the Day’s Inn.  We need electricity to run the heater as it gets quite below freezing at night here.

So I’m still in shock.  I keep turning it over and over in my head; I wasn’t around for the argument, I was in the trailer with the kids, and I can’t wrap my mind around how this can be ok.  How does she justify this?  We used not one crumb of her food, we cooked dinner for her, Maca and Nate nightly (though I found out she hates all the foods I cooked), we did use her washing machine (I told Jamie not to ), we left food in her fridge, we brought her gifts and a brand new coffee machine, how are we such terrible freeloaders and how is it ok in her mind to tell us to pack up and leave in the dark?  With 4 young children?  She has hurt the children terribly and I will NOT allow that to happen again.