Who has the most dysfunctional relative?

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

So, this old dude was married to your gram, but she has passed. But he still involves himself in your family? She never had any kids with him did she? So there is no real tie, neither blood nor marriage. I guess you must be all he has left. Otherwise, I'd think that he would return to his clan for family gatherings like holidays. Does some other member of your family like him and keep in contact?

I guess that's normal, but it seems odd to me for some reason. I don't know why. I guess it's pretty cool off y'all to include him. He must get pretty lonely.

Yeah, but he was married to her ever since my mom was a teenager, so he's been around quite awhile. My grandma was married to him more than twice as long as she was married to my mom's actual dad... By all rights I should have called him "grandpa," since he was just as present in my life as she was, but everyone else in the family kept him at arm's length and called him by his first name, so my brother and I did too.

Anyway, you're right, he has no one. After my grandma died, he had to put a new benefactor on his life insurance policy, and he told my mom that he was "pretty sure" he had a cousin who was still alive, but couldn't find him after a few months of trying so he just put my kids on there instead (not that it's any significant amount of money, just enough to bury him really, but it was a nice gesture.)

No one in the family likes him, but I guess we all feel it would be too mean to just cut him out. Actually, not all of us--he and one uncle had a big fight about something a few months ago, and he was not invited to Thanksgiving this year at this same uncle's house. Can't for the life of me figure out what the fight could have been about, or why they would even have the opportunity for a conversation, but there it is.

*shrug* I still invited him to Christmas at my house. He's not in great health, so personally I figure he'll just die in a few more years and solve the dilemma for everyone.