This is about my own wedding and how an entitled mom nearly turned it into her personal circus.

My fiancé (now husband) and I planned our wedding for over a year. We wanted something small yet elegant, with close family and friends. My husband’s family is pretty down-to-earth — except for his aunt, who is known for her over-the-top behavior and entitlement.

Everything was going smoothly until the week before the wedding. [Aunt] called and demanded that we include her six-year-old daughter (my husband’s cousin) as a flower girl. We already had two flower girls, my nieces, who were thrilled about it. I politely declined, explaining that arrangements had already been made.

[Aunt] didn’t take this well. She started a tirade about how her daughter was being excluded unfairly and how we were ruining her child’s self-esteem. I tried to stay calm, but she was relentless.

I thought that was the end of it, but oh, was I wrong.

On our wedding day, [Aunt] showed up with her daughter dressed in a full-blown white, frilly flower girl dress. She marched up to me, demanding that her daughter be included in the ceremony.

I was flabbergasted. My husband and I, along with our wedding planner, tried to reason with her, but she caused a huge scene, saying things like, “How could you be so selfish on your wedding day?” and, “You’re destroying a little girl’s dream!”

My usually quiet mother-in-law had had enough. She stepped in and told [Aunt] in no uncertain terms that this was our day, not hers or her daughter’s. She said that if [Aunt] couldn’t respect our wishes, they would have to leave.

[Aunt] was shocked. She tried to argue, but other family members, who were equally fed up with her antics, supported my mother-in-law’s stance. Realizing she was outnumbered, [Aunt] left in a huff, her daughter in tow.

The rest of the wedding went off without a hitch, and everyone had a great time.

We heard through the grapevine that [Aunt] complained about us to anyone who would listen, but most of the family knew her history and took it with a grain of salt.

I’m grateful for my amazing in-laws who stood up for us, boosting my confidence in our marriage’s success even more.

When I was a kid, my dad could really be a d**k sometimes. He broke rules all his life but would swiftly and gleefully punish me if I didn’t do exactly what he wanted without question.

One Christmas season, we went out shopping for my mom and spent the whole day crawling the mall. When we got back home, Dad told me that I would be wrapping all the presents myself.

Me: “You’re not going to help me?”

Dad: “No. I paid for them; you can wrap them.”

I was twelve years old. Was I expected to buy presents? I knew better than to fight with him, though, so I did exactly what he asked.

And when it came time to write the “From” line on each present’s tag, I wrote my name and my name alone. After all, if he’d been there, he could’ve signed them. Heck, if he checked the presents before Christmas, he could sign them.

But of course, he didn’t.

When we unwrapped presents, my mom wondered out loud:

Mom: “Why are all of my gifts from [My Name]?”

Dad got so mad and tried to make me feel bad about it, but when I explained it in front of both of them, he got quiet and stopped.

From that point on, I had help wrapping each year. And I do enjoy wrapping presents nowadays!

Many years ago, I was pet-sitting at my brother’s house, back when he only had his two male cats. One of the boys was outside, so I was alone in the house with [Cat #2]. All of the doors were locked.

I woke up in the middle of the night, alerted by some mysterious dragging sounds, like someone was walking very slowly. It was not exactly what you want to hear when you wake up, and it took me a minute or two to gather enough courage to get up and investigate.

[Cat #2] had found an empty cardboard box in the other room and was shuffling it around. I guess he was busy finding the perfect feng shui spot or something. But I should have guessed as he LOVES his boxes. After all, my brother had left it in the room for [Cat #2] to explore and enjoy.

I just wished he had done so during the day.

My cousin has had lots of partners, and she has two kids.

Grandma: “[Cousin], are you ever going to get married?”

Cousin: “It’s not the same nowadays. We don’t buy cars without test-driving them first.”

Grandma: “Yeah. But they don’t let you put a hundred thousand miles on them, either.”

The point goes to Granny.

CONTENT WARNING: Stabbing, Car Accident (Everyone lives)

My mother-in-law is the main character in every story. She told this tale over a family meal many years ago when Black Friday was still a mob-inducing event.

Mother-In-Law: “Did I tell you what happened on Black Friday?”

[Brother-In-Law] glanced at my husband and me. We knew we were in for quite a story.

Brother-In-Law: “What happened?”

Mother-In-Law: “Well, first, my car would not start. I guess I left my dome light on again and the battery died. I had to go wake up [Neighbor] to get a jump, and he cussed me out! Just for knocking on his door!”

Brother-In-Law: “When was this?”

Mother-In-Law: “I was going out for Black Friday deals.”

Me: “So, like… 3:00 am?”

Mother-In-Law: “I needed help! Anyway, he got the car started, and I went to get gas at the gas station. Well, the place was mobbed because no one can plan ahead and get gas before shopping—” *scoffs* “—and this fight broke out over one of the pumps. One person stabbed the other, and the ambulance and the police showed up. I was lucky to make it out alive!”

Husband: “Were you at the pump they wanted?”

Mother-In-Law: “No, I was in line, four cars back.”

Brother-In-Law: “So, you weren’t really in danger?”

Mother-In-Law: “I was! Were you not listening?”

Brother-In-Law: “Right, of course. Sorry.”

Mother-In-Law: “Then, while I was on the ramp to get on the highway, the car in front of me was trying to merge in, and a trucker was trying to get to the side of the road at the same time. They collided, and the car burst into flames!”

Husband: *Genuinely concerned* “Did you call 911?!”

Mother-In-Law: “No, darling, I had to get [some sale item] before they ran out. Honestly, though, it was the worst morning of my life.”

Me: “So… you woke your elderly neighbor because you didn’t turn off your dome light, someone else got stabbed nowhere near you, another person lost their car and possibly more… and you had a bad morning?”

Mother-In-Law: “Yes! Who else would have so many bad things happen to them in one day?”

Husband: “Only you, I suppose.”

Yes, we have tried many times to get her to understand that just because she is part of the story, it doesn’t mean the story is about her. But as usual, we are wrong. It’s not a senility issue; his family has assured me that she has been this way her entire life.

And for closure, I did look up the accident and stabbing incidents. All parties who were actually involved did survive — as did [Mother-In-Law], which is clearly the most important part of all of this.