We recently just found out that BM's older brother and his wife are in the middle of a nasty divorce. BM's brother has been struggling with an addiction to prescription pills for a few years now. He refused counseling rehab or counseling and told his wife he would do it "cold turkey." She gave him the ultimatum that it was drugs or her kids and he simply told her he "couldn't quit." It saddens me, because the brother was the only decent person on that side of the family. He has also been very kind to me, DH, SD and SS. Never once has he ever guilt-tripped SD and SS into reuniting with their BM - in fact, he was on OUR side throughout the entire process and refused to speak to her for years. The last incident he remembers with his sister was during his oldest son's birthday party - she showed up, high out of her mind, and left with all of the son's birthday money that she had stuffed into her purse. The brother was a good man when I knew him - he worked hard, built his own home, was very supportive when his wife went back to nursing school, very involved in his children's lives. It really hurts my heart that he developed this addiction and doesn't want to accept any kind of help. It's also hard because SS and his oldest cousin have been best friends their entire lives. Other than the drugs, the brother is a good man inside and I wish him nothing but the best. The ironic thing is that his mother didn't even raise him - he stayed behind when his family moved and was raised by his grandparents instead.

The older sister is a different story - she was raised by her mother. She grew up doing whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. She married young to get out of her house and dealt with a husband who was abusive (never physically, but verbally and mentally) and also developed a problem with prescription pills. She had been told she was infertile by numerous doctors and this pained her, because she always wanted children. I felt sympathy for her situation. We got along at first - my very first memory of her is walking in DH's house after BM was arrested again (after being out of jail for less than 72 hours) and stating "What a stupid b*tch." She was always there for SD and SS, watching them while DH and I were at work, coming to their progams at school, etc. For most of my relationship with DH, all I ever heard was the sister talk badly about BM. Then she married a rich man and magically found herself pregnant, and everything changed. Now she and BM are best friends. She gas-lights and guilt-trips SD and SS constantly. She holds the money she has (her husband's money, mind you) over everyone's heads. I cannot stand her anymore.