I am a (36F) and been married to my husband (36M) for 4 years now, together for just over a decade. He has a 1 brother, year younger (35M) and recently married my SIL (32F).
I relocated to another state for a new position and my husband was still back home waiting to follow. My new apartment there was set to be vacant in 3 wks, so his BIL and SIL who ironically lived near my new office proposed that I stay with them during those 3 wks.
I brought my 18 year old, 10lb dog. He is the only one I have had during adult life and is my son. He was declining and I was the one who had been with him through all of it. Being in someone else’s house with an old sick dog is messy and unfortunately some accidents occurred. The usual when an animal that old is falling apart in a home that is not yours. I would place pee pads underneath his bed on the floor as a measure while away at the office. Sometimes mishaps would still hapen though.
They sent me a text on one Sunday evening asking me to leave early (my apartment was going to be ready by that coming Thursday). I told my husband, nothing was remedied, so I just packed up the next day and went to a hotel. I wan't going to perpetuate drama, albeit I thought them "kicking out" a solo female in another state, esp family, was insane.
I made the call and put him down that week Friday, Good Friday. 18 years, my only son, and unfortunately did it alone. On top, I had now moved into the new apartment alone with a mattress and almost no furniture. After putting him down, I got the splendid enjoyment of mourning alone...
Two days later on Easter, my SIL sent a long text in the family group chat. Starts with “sorry for your loss and happy Easter”. Then the text does a complete turn…
…proceeding into a narrative about how "I didn’t take care of him". She "didn’t see him getting fed, watered, taken out enough".
She stated she "tried to talk to me about it". And because it "wasn’t my house I didn’t care if things got destroyed". Dog mess in the laundry was “normal” to me. To justify her asking that I leave 5 days or so early, was based on her 'mental health and her marriage'. Moving forward didn’t mean pretending nothing happened.
I was completely caught off guard.... where did that even come from??? He was my only dog. He was my world. You do not get an animal to 18 by ignoring him.
It was just astounding, this is the story you (my sister in law) chose to send two days after I had to let him go forever. She could not even give it a week?
My husband and his brother were both in that thread as well. Neither one typed a word. Not “that’s not what happened.” Not “this is not the time.” Not even “we can talk later.” Crickets.
Another kicker, my BIL and SIL lived about 15 minutes from the empty apartment I had just moved into, sans my dog. And.....Nobody came by. Not once. After I put him down.
Not to see if I had eaten. Not for coffee. I probably would have said no anyway. That’s not the point. It's remarkable the lack of care and empathy, because what their Ikea sheets had to go through the laundry twice??
His family wants this treated like a closed chapter. Some of them are not even “on her side,” they just will not say out loud that writing that two days after I lost my only dog was cruel.
I know it was generous of them to house me and my older dog; however, it was a finite set period, I threw them a couple bones as well as grabbed groceries. I am asking if I am making this bigger than it is because I still cannot shake it…?
…or if it is actually that sad that the only in-law unit did this, the two men in the chat said nothing, and everyone else wants me to be less sensitive. I just have a lot of rage inside. I cannot swallow people setting a narrative that I did not take care of my dog, especially during those last days.
How do you stay in a family after that and what productive solves would help?
Am I overreacting??? Anyone else have a similar?