In the 3 minutes that I saw her today, an unexpected comment came out of her mouth today. She says she "has to move back in" to our house whilst her mum is visiting -- because it would be too awkward for her otherwise.
and I'm thinking: really? it'll be too awkward having you back in the house again. Nobody here wants to listen to you complain about everything.
Then she said she's only moving back in for her mother, because really, she doesn't want to move into this house again.
and I'm thinking: good, because I not sure we want you to move back in either. actually it's been quite happy here without you.
I couldn't think of anything nice to say. Nor did anything non antagonistic come to mind, so I stayed silent and said nothing. Damn, now she's probably thinking that I am okay with her decision. Another one of those decisions that she has discussed solely with herself before announcing it to us that this is what is happening. This was my chance to say something is opposition to the idea, and I said nothing. I blew it.
Well, it looks like Sept is going to be a very interesting time around this house. The peaceful house is going to be disrupted by the antics of departed-wife. She's going to wan to come in and run the household like she always has, her way. Well no one wants it her way, that way is unbearable, painful, mean and it outright sucks!
My bet, is that my eldest disappears to her friends house for the week. and the others spend as little time about the house as possible. No one is going to be in much of a family mood. Actually, I think the only person really interested in pretending to be a "happy family" (as you've called it AGrace) is the wife-departed. And the mother-in-law is going to see through the facade in no time flat.
The wife-departed has no good-will remaining, so she best not be expecting that either the kids or I are will be "covering" for her whilst her mum is in town. If she is, she is sadly mistaken. If she hasn't broken the news of her walking out yet, that's her problem. The kids have asked and I've replied, there's no need for them to offer the information, but then again if they are asked by their grandmother they can answer one of two ways: either tell her the truth, or tell her to ask their mum. They shouldn't feel compelled to cover for her, nor is it their responsibility to break the news to their grandmother.
The wife-departed quite obviously is continuing with her preferred method of communication: osmosis
