My son left home the day after graduation, (also the day after he turned 1
to join the church. He moved in with the family that inticed him to join. He was set to enter college mid August of that year. He attended college two weeks and quit because the church told him it wasn't where he should be. He gave up, (now don't choke when you read this..) $74,000 in scholarship money. Yes, you read that right, $74,000 in scholarship money ! It was a gift from God and he threw it away ! He scored the highest score EVER on the entrance exam to Marion College in Indianapolis !
He was engaged to be married before his 19th birthday. The wedding invites were sent out two months before the wedding. When we recieved our invite, we were stunned to see that we were not listed anywhere on the invite as the grooms parents. It was as if we didn't exist ! We weren't invited to the engagment party or the bridal shower. Even though we were deeply hurt by all of this, we bought the couple lots of nice gifts. I had my son come to the house to pick up the gifts. While he was greedily opening everything, he told me I was going to burn in the lakes of fire! He angered me and I told him to take the sh*t and leave.
Well, being the good mother that I am, I hosted a dinner the evening before the wedding day. I invited her parents, sister and family, the pastor, his wife and their married son and dil. My girls and I set a fabulous table alfresco'. Linnen table cloths and napkins, silver, crystal and china. I knew how they seperate men and women, so I purposely "mixed up" the place cards at the table. I made a tastey spaghetti and meatball dinner. Enough food to feed a small army. I made a huge montage' of photos of my son from birth till age 18 on a wall in our kitchen so these "church" people could see that this child was loved by us.
It was a beautiful, sunny, breezy evening when the guests arrived. My husband served them soda pop out on the patio while I slaved away in the kitchen. My husband told them to go in the kitchen to see the montage'. The brides mother stepped in for all of five minutes, never saying one word to me. If it hadn't been for my girls helping me, none of the food would have ever made it out to the serving table. Not one person from the brides side came in to ask if there was anything they could do to help me. I sat in that hot kitchen for an hour while "they" sat out in the cool breeze chatting.
So, we got the food out and went to sit down only to fiind that my son had re-arranged the place cards segregating men/women, (sorta).
Here's how it went........my husband sat at one end of the long table and I at the other end. men on his half, women on my half. The men chatted with everyone but my husband. The women started chatting with me when the bride's mother commented on how beautiful the large platter was that the entree was served on. She said, "My, I'll bet that is old and worth alot of money." I told her it was part of the Havilend wedding china passed down from my husband's maternal great grandparents. It was a gift to me from my mil. Bride's mother asked iif Inew it's monetary value. "Yes", I told her. "MIL had it appraised. Worth $5000." Well, the hens began clucking, asking all sorts of questions about my mil's money ! I turned the tables on them mighty quick. I asked preacher wife about the beautiful silk blouse/skirt set she was wearing. She beamed and said, "Oh, I bought this outfit and several like it before preacher and I went to Hawaii last summer. We spent two months there !" I asked preacher wife when they went to Hawaii. She said, "Oh, we spent the month of July and August there last summer." (That's when I knew they had taken my son's $15,000 trust fund.) I had nothing moore to say to any of them. I sat there silently, ate my dinner, drank my beer, seething at their arrogance.
The dinner came to an end. The disgustingly obese preacher, (who had never said so much as a "hello" to me, my husband or daughters), got up, looked at me, grunted and said, "Thanks, it was nice.". They all got up and left.
My husband and daughters attended the wedding. I stayed home and had a party with fifty of my friends.
He was engaged to be married before his 19th birthday. The wedding invites were sent out two months before the wedding. When we recieved our invite, we were stunned to see that we were not listed anywhere on the invite as the grooms parents. It was as if we didn't exist ! We weren't invited to the engagment party or the bridal shower. Even though we were deeply hurt by all of this, we bought the couple lots of nice gifts. I had my son come to the house to pick up the gifts. While he was greedily opening everything, he told me I was going to burn in the lakes of fire! He angered me and I told him to take the sh*t and leave.
Well, being the good mother that I am, I hosted a dinner the evening before the wedding day. I invited her parents, sister and family, the pastor, his wife and their married son and dil. My girls and I set a fabulous table alfresco'. Linnen table cloths and napkins, silver, crystal and china. I knew how they seperate men and women, so I purposely "mixed up" the place cards at the table. I made a tastey spaghetti and meatball dinner. Enough food to feed a small army. I made a huge montage' of photos of my son from birth till age 18 on a wall in our kitchen so these "church" people could see that this child was loved by us.
It was a beautiful, sunny, breezy evening when the guests arrived. My husband served them soda pop out on the patio while I slaved away in the kitchen. My husband told them to go in the kitchen to see the montage'. The brides mother stepped in for all of five minutes, never saying one word to me. If it hadn't been for my girls helping me, none of the food would have ever made it out to the serving table. Not one person from the brides side came in to ask if there was anything they could do to help me. I sat in that hot kitchen for an hour while "they" sat out in the cool breeze chatting.
So, we got the food out and went to sit down only to fiind that my son had re-arranged the place cards segregating men/women, (sorta).
Here's how it went........my husband sat at one end of the long table and I at the other end. men on his half, women on my half. The men chatted with everyone but my husband. The women started chatting with me when the bride's mother commented on how beautiful the large platter was that the entree was served on. She said, "My, I'll bet that is old and worth alot of money." I told her it was part of the Havilend wedding china passed down from my husband's maternal great grandparents. It was a gift to me from my mil. Bride's mother asked iif Inew it's monetary value. "Yes", I told her. "MIL had it appraised. Worth $5000." Well, the hens began clucking, asking all sorts of questions about my mil's money ! I turned the tables on them mighty quick. I asked preacher wife about the beautiful silk blouse/skirt set she was wearing. She beamed and said, "Oh, I bought this outfit and several like it before preacher and I went to Hawaii last summer. We spent two months there !" I asked preacher wife when they went to Hawaii. She said, "Oh, we spent the month of July and August there last summer." (That's when I knew they had taken my son's $15,000 trust fund.) I had nothing moore to say to any of them. I sat there silently, ate my dinner, drank my beer, seething at their arrogance.
The dinner came to an end. The disgustingly obese preacher, (who had never said so much as a "hello" to me, my husband or daughters), got up, looked at me, grunted and said, "Thanks, it was nice.". They all got up and left.
My husband and daughters attended the wedding. I stayed home and had a party with fifty of my friends.
