Grouchy gramps derails airport run
DEAR AMY » Recently my daughter-in-law asked my wife to drive her and her two little kids to the airport (100 miles away) using our car.
Mind you, the daughter-in-law has a brandnew $50,000 SUV, but wanted my wife to drive OUR car to the airport.
This would leave me without a car to drive in case I needed it.
The daughter-inlaw didn’t offer to let me use her car while my wife was doing this favor for her.
So I took off in our car the morning of the trip to go shopping and do some errands.
I told my wife to drive the daughter-in-law’s car, as it is newer, safer, and with all the newest gadgets for safety for the kids, etc.
Now the daughter-inlaw and my wife are mad at me because she had to use her car to get to the airport. She says she didn’t want to drive her new SUV in city traffic.
Should I have to pay for wear and tear on my car so the daughter-inlaw can keep her new SUV without using it?
Nobody is listening to me, so I am looking for a third party to weigh in.
DEAR OWNER » In my opinion, what you did was really obnoxious.
When was the last time you took two young children by yourself on a plane? The morning of a trip like this is extremely stressful. Your passiveaggressive behavior really threw a spanner into the proceedings.
Your daughter-in-law and your wife had made an arrangement that you didn’t like, and so, rather than talk to them both about it and staking your (rightful) claim to your own family’s car, you simply took it, leaving them to scramble on the morning of the trip.
I am assuming that your daughter-in-law might have been nervous about your wife driving her unfamiliar vehicle alone on the way back from the airport.
Regardless of your DIL’s reasoning, I do agree with you in a sense about the use of the cars.
I agree with them, however, about your behavior. Badly done.
DEAR AMY » I have a reassuring comment for the person signing her letter, “Never Write Anything You Wouldn’t Want Published.” She had written some steamy love letters to her ex, and now wanted them back.
I am handling my deceased ex-partner’s estate, and anyone who does this has no time to read old love letters. These letters will be given a glance, but unless you are a famous person, they won’t be read, but simply shredded. (I have just shredded 24 boxes of papers.)
She should also consider that since her lover was never married, maybe she was the love of his life. Maybe at the end of his life, he is re-reading these letters, dreaming of her.
DEAR EXHAUSTED » This is a huge job to assume, on behalf of an ex. Good for you.