So about a year ago I married my wife. We had been dating for 6 years before this. She is a wonderful, kind, and brilliant woman. Her family has always made me feel like one of their own. Her older brother is one of my best friends and I love spending time with her family. My little sister loves my wife and her family as well.

Then there are my parents. They have completely ignored her existence for the last 7 years. Even in person. It is so weird. We could spend four hours with them for dinner and they will only talk to me or ask me about my life. It’s painfully noticeable and hurts her feelings every time.

They are also very overwhelming to me, constantly guilt tripping me for not spending every weekend at their house when we lived close by (I’m 30 years old, important to note here).

So finally one day I could not take it anymore. I told them it makes my wife very sad that they go out of their way to ignore her and they need to realize that we have our own life and can not spend every waking moment with them nor do we want to with the way they treat my wife.

This made them absolutely freak out. They took my words “we just need a little space and privacy” to the absolute extreme and completely cut us out of their lives, well, cut me out since they never tried to include my wife in the first place. The worst part was when they tried to keep my dog after watching her for a couple weeks while my wife and I were traveling. Keep, as in not give us back our own fucking dog like she was some kind of hostage. They haven’t talked to me in about a year now.

Since then my wife, my dog, and I have moved to a new state for my career, purchased a home, and built an amazing life together. I am the happiest I’ve been in my life. I miss my parents but I have also started to remember and identify the toxic controlling behaviors they have exhibited my whole life.

My mom now, without an ounce of subtlety, constantly likes or makes passive aggressive comments on Facebook photos from when my sister and I were kids. She of course does not like a single thing I post about my new life or pictures that include my wife. They recently also shared that they are planning on moving to our new state which is deeply concerning.

I just hope when my little sister finds her life partner that they try to treat them better than they ever have me or my wife.