Story of a Girl (2)

This is the story of a girl who cried a river and drowned the whole world and while she looked so sad in photographs I absolutely love her when she smiles. -Nine Days, Story of a Girl

I have known my husband for quite a few years now. We dated off and on before we decided to get married and everyone still tells me that I am “too young to be married”. I am twenty one and I don't care what everyone else thinks, I am not “too young”. There are so many things in my life that I could tell you about, but I want to stick to a few distinct things for now. I may elaborate on some other things later on. My husband has a little brother who is autistic. Autism, in case you did not know, is a developmental disorder of the brain. My brother in-law if a functional autisic, but he tries to use his autism as an excuse for a lot of things. It gets old quick. When my mother-in-law died, my husband got legal rights of his brother. His brother's dad takes him on the weekends for us, but we are technically his legal guardians. I really don't like it. I did not choose to have a twelve year old living with me, but certain circumstances made it practically inevitable.

I am not usually a quick-tempered person, but after taking care of my brother-in-law for so long, it really gets old. All of his nonsense that is. At work I feel I can vent to my friends, which I did this morning, but sometimes I kind of regret saying anything. One of the girls I work with is always telling me what I need to do when it comes to the situation, but I don't feel like it is her place to tell me what to do. She has an autistic brother too, but the situations themselves are completely different. I just don't think she understands that. I try not to be mean to my brother-in-law, but it is so hard sometimes when he does extremely stupid stuff. For example, he got the mail for us the other day and did not tell either of us. He just set it down in his room. Now our bills are late because I never got the mail. It is really a simple fix, but I just wish he would be a little more considerate. The thing that actually has me the most irked is that he told his counselor that he doesn't think of me as his sister-in-law, but as his “brothers bitchy friend that is always around”. He is twelve! It is so hard for me not to go off on him all the time. Like I said, I didn't ask for this situation. None of us did. I had to drop out of college to raise a child that isn't mine and every day someone has to make me sound like a bad person for one reason or another. I just don't understand it.

***Discalimer: (Please see previous blog) This is a true story of someone I know. I write in first person so people can feel the impact of what I'm writing a little better***