It's official

I think that, at least for the moment, my relationship with my brother is over. The family argument went to a whole new level and I'm sick of him sapping my parents financially all while disrespecting them and talking dirt about them and treating them like the dirt under his feet. To top it off I refuse to let him throw things I spoke to him about years ago, in confidence, at my mother as ammunition, as if it were his right.

As I right this I'm trying to get my nausea and blood pressure under control, repeating to myself that it's not worth being upset over and eventually, things will change.

The problem is that I don't believe it.

He is who he is, and he is rather dumb. He won't listen to advice and he won't hear reason. He acts like her family hung the moon, but he lives and mooches off of my family and seems to think they owe him the right to talk dirt about them. He says he can't wait to move out.

Fine. We're waiting.

Truth is, reality bites. I mean, we're all pretty happy with our lives, but I don't know any adults who wouldn't admit that paying bills and being responsible and having to supply the funds for everything in life is probably the least fun part about being grown. They'd admit that marriage is work, kids can be absolute pains, and spouses can make you crazy. If he'd listen they'd tell him that if he's having problems with her now, signing a legal contract isn't going to make her pick fewer fights with him--just the opposite. Marrying her isn't going to make the financial issues any better, and moving out isn't going to help his situation. As it stands right now, he only pays for his phone and his car payment. If he moves out, the parents won't pay anything anymore and he'll be on his own. He'll realize real fast just how hard it is to be a grown-up.

I think the root of the problem is that he's spoiled. He feels entitled to walk all over everyone and still get the perks they've offered in the past.

I'm going to miss him, but not enough to tolerate blatant disrespect from him towards myself and my parents. I'm done with him verbally attacking and abusing my mother and acting like she has done nothing but try to make him miserable. I don't always agree with her methods or her reasons but in the end, she does love us and she does want nothing more than our happiness.

(Just for the record... this was written last night, and my computer froze the moment before I hit Publish, so I didn't get back to it until today... I'll update again later.)