1. Ted has mocked Stephanie many times.
2. Ted sent an email to his friends and relatives (I guess I am not a relative, but that is fine with me) announcing his father's death. It was a nice email. I am not going to copy it here because I don't want to mock something nice. I will, however, copy the emails that followed.
3. I will, however, mock baldfaced lies.
- Sly and Doris were not nice to Stephanie. They said mean things about her behind her back and were rude to her face. One time, before Stephanie and Jack divorced, they were visiting Sly and Doris with their kids. Sly started picking at Jack about Jack's master's degree, saying it was a waste of money (an MBA, compared to Sly's oh so marketable PhD in English). He was so mean that Jack and Stephanie packed their bags, took the kids, and checked in to a hotel rather than stay with Sly.
- Nobody should have to "earn" love.
- I don't get it - Ted can be so nice and charming at times. Maybe he is just trying to be nice here. Maybe he doesn't think Stephanie knows what Sly said about her. I don't know. Maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt. OK. I have decided that Ted is trying to be nice and that's a good thing. He gets points for this one. But Stephanie and I still howled at the line, "He loved you quite a bit." And I want to know what Stephanie did to "earn" that love.
On (date), at 1:36 PM, Stehaniewrote:
Ted, a beautiful tribute to your dad. My thoughts and prayers are with you at this time.
Stephanie
On (date) 2:40 PM, "Ted"> wrote:He loved you quite a bit. Because you earned it!
love backatcha
On (date), at 1:36 PM, Stehaniewrote:
Thank you Ted. I too loved both Sly and Doris as if they were my own parents. I will truly miss them dearly, but find comfort in all the wonderful memories I have of them.
Much love......Stephanie
On (date) 2:40 PM, "Ted"> wrote:
all feelings mutual. I look forward to making many more memories with you and your great 3 kids, as I know my wife and kid do too
love etc
Ted sounds like a wannabe hipster that talks in annoying abbrevs.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the of the Family Guy episode where Peter discovers his first name is actually Justin then starts talking and acting like an annoying, wannabe hipster talking in abbrevs. Good thing I just saw that one again last night so I could remember it!
Totes.
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ReplyDeleteBackatcha ?!
Don't you just know that if Ted thought he could get away with it, he would have one of those tiny middle-aged ponytails that look so stupid?
DeleteIs Sly's funeral also a gig, or was that just Doris's?
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, no! I didn't even think of that! Good catch, Sprky!
DeletePS Also, now I picture Ted doing that annoying thing of pretending his hands are guns and waving them around shooting them. He made me picture this.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah! And clicking his tongue! Whom do we cast as Ted in the movie?
DeleteI'm waiting for the flip side of Ted to emerge! He is after all, the Son of Sly.
ReplyDeleteemma, how prescient. I think I have a post coming up called, "The king is dead, long live the king."
DeleteBut now I need to start calling him "Son of Sly!"
DeleteI think he is Sly-in-training.
ReplyDeleteDef.
DeleteI'm going to make a guess as to the reason, and I'll say straight away that I may be completely off-base, because I don't really know the people involved.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said you wanted to know what Stephanie did to "earn" their love, my first thought was, "What's different? Aha! Children!" Yeah, I first thought it was that Stephanie "gave" Sly grandchildren, so Ted (and/or Sly) feel more like she's "actually" family. Then I kept reading and found out that Ted mentioned the kids specifically in the next round, and I'm even more sure now.
If so, ugh. (I hope I'm reading something that isn't there...)
Nah, they hated her almost as much as they hated me. I don't know why she was so nice to them.
DeleteWell, her kids are apparently getting 3/5 of the estate, so maybe Ted thinks she finally got one over on him. ;)
DeleteI know people like Stephanie, and I actually admire their quiet grace in these situations. That quiet grace? I do not have it. I am civil, but I'm not warm to people I don't like. It's not in my nature to be super warm anyway, so it's not worth the even more tremendous effort for people I don't really like. Sometimes I wish I could just let things go and assume the best of everyone, but my brain just doesn't work that way. (Good thing I married my husband, because he is more like that than I am.)
Wait a minute...I just checked the family tree in your sidebar. I thought Ted had two kids, but apparently he only has one. That means Steph's kids are getting 3/4 of the money.
DeleteYes - and Jack got $250K for his restaurant. Sly and Doris have given money to Ted over the years as well, but not that much. Primo has two stepdaughters to whom Sly and Doris did not even send Christmas cards. They were not in the will.
DeletePrimo has been financially independent since he got out of college. That is as it should be, but man, if your parents give $250K to one half brother, tens of thousands of dollars to the other, and then the rest of their money to your dad's grandchildren, it is - a shock.
It certainly would be! Especially when you're also the one that your dad turns to to fix everything that he broke. Heck, the entire family is turning to Primo to "fix" whatever they think is broken. Dad can't get to the bathroom on time? Primo, fix his bladder! Dad wants to go back home instead of going to care? Primo, rip out that carpet and take care of all the minute details! Your mom and dad both just died? Primo, inventory the entire house for us in the next three hours, so we can sue you next week!
DeleteWhat the hell is wrong with these people?! I am so, so, so, so, SO sorry that Primo and you have both been dealing with this so long. Just for his mental health, I hope you can cut these people out of your life (not all, of course, just the ones that are toxic like this) and move forward.This is not doing Primo any good at all, health-wise, whether it's showing now or not.
This may be a hard line to take but Primo has no one to blame but himself. You told him repeatedly to get Sly to finish the will, even before Doris died. It wasn't like Sly hid anything since Primo had seen a copy of the will. He should have escorted them to the lawyer's office while they were still lucid or refused to return to Florida to handle any more DIY household projects.
ReplyDeleteOh really? If you have the secret to making someone do something he does not want to do - and I am not talking about Primo but about Sly - then please share it with me.
DeleteBy withholding something of value. They valued Primo. It was obvious they loved Primo despite their faults. They only wanted Primo to handle their affairs and fix things around the house and take care of them when they were ill. If he refused to return to Florida unless an appointment with a lawyer was made and followed through while he was in Florida.
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