Day 8 ~ A Photo that makes me Angry/ Sad

A Photo that makes me Angry/Sad

I have two photos that I want to share. One photo that makes me 'sad' and one photo that makes me 'angry'.

Here's the photo that makes me 'sad'.

It's a beautiful photo of my mom's Gravesite in Hawaii. This specific photo was one taken the day of her funeral. Very pretty flowers, and a very pretty Urn. Clearly, it makes me sad. It makes me 'sad' for multiple different reasons. Sad everytime I think about her, sad everytime the Holidays come around, sad everytime one of my children hits some sort of achievement in their lives, sad everytime I think about how much she would so LOVE Brian to death. It's been 6 years since she passed away and I still miss her so very much!

Now, for the photo that makes me ANGRY! At first glance, this picture (in ordinary circumstances) you might be thinking.... "hmmm... it's a photo of a wedding party, what could possibly make her 'angry'?"


Well, this photo is of Brian's oldest daughter at her wedding, along with their family. (Brian's children and his ex-wife along with her sister and family. ~ Brian's children are the ones standing in the back row on the left: Jared, Jaclyn, Jenni and of course, the bride, Jessica) Do you see one thing missing? Perhaps like BRIAN?

Yeah, well, some of you know the story behind this one and boy is it a freaking doozy. For those of you who don't know the story, I'll cut out all the details and get to the jist of things.

Basically, Brian's daughter decided AT.THE.LAST.MINUTE (like less than 20 days before the wedding) that she would like her mother AND her father walk her down the aisle and she ASKED Brian's opinion. Brian was honest with her and shared that he'd been looking forward to this moment for 27 years; walking his daughter down the aisle and he would like very much for him and her to share this special moment together, just the two of them. Well, daughter said she'd get back to him about it, and several days later, decided that if he didn't do what SHE wanted, (because after all, you know it's HER wedding) then she didn't want him to be a part of the wedding and would un-invite him. Brian struggled with his decision and felt that if he went along with her demand, it would #1) continue to let her manipulate him and get her way as she has always done since he and her mom had divorced (mind you, she had already graduated from high school at that point ~ an adult herself) and #2) he would feel miserable the entire time knowing that the ONE thing that he wanted throughout this entire wedding process was taken away from him. A couple of phone calls from the ex-wife, TELLING HIM HE'D BETTER DO THIS, along with his thoughts alone, he decided he needed to stick to his guns. So, when she called him to find out if he changed his mind, he told her he hadn't. He explained to her how much it meant for him to spend that three minutes or less with her walking down the aisle, reminicing from the day she was born until that point. He said that the only part of the wedding he was a part of was paying for the Alcohol / Reception and paying for their Honeymoon in Greece, and that her mother was able to go with her to pick out the dress, pick out centerpieces, flowers, cake tasting, etc. All he had was walking her down the aisle.

None of that meant anything to her. She told him that he was un-invited from the wedding and that she didn't want him to be a part of her life going forward. JUST.LIKE.THAT. Oh, but, she let me know that I was still invited and was more than welcomed to the wedding. WTF?!? Um... no, I don't think so.

So yeah, this is the one photo that makes me SO.VERY.ANGRY. Knowing that Brian should be in this photo!

For what it's worth, her childish antics didn't end there; she took it upon herself to immediately email all of her wedding guests and said: "Due to circumstances beyond our control, Jessica's father will no longer be attending the wedding and has withdrawn his financial support, therefore there will be changes to the Reception and Alcoholic Beverage choices..." she went on to state what the changes were, etc. but GIVE ME A BREAK... why would you email your guests?!? It's none of their business!!

Oh, there's more, but I'll leave you all with that.