June 26, 2010

The engagement party for my niece last weekend went very well. Food was good, every single person who RSVP'd showed up, no fights or craziness, everyone had a good time. Too good to be true! 

And it was. The party itself was great. The after party was good -- everyone in the pool and hot tub, cannonball contests, etc., good time. But when the party ended . . . that's when it got bad. One of my nephews, Edward, showed up to the party with a little bit of an attitude. Something seemed to be bugging him but he said he was fine. But, by the end of the day, he was very drunk.

As the party was ending and everyone was figuring out who was driving who (several people were not super drunk but not in any shape to drive and my nieces and nephews are pretty good about not driving drunk), where everyone would be staying, etc., and Edward was the singular biggest problem because he started being an ass.

His father tried to get him to chill out and he threatened to punch his face in. His cousins, my other nieces and nephews, tried to get him to chill out and he was being obnoxious and pushing them away from him and fell back on a barstool and broke the chair.  We finally got him in a car driven by my other nephew, Aaron,  who was sober and was going to let him stay on his couch. There were 2 nieces, Kate1 and Kate2, and a friend-of-niece with them.

During the drive, Edward attacked his cousin Kate1, my oldest niece, by grabbing her by the back of her hair, whipping her head back and threatening to beat her up. My other niece, Kate2, was in the back seat with them and got scared that he might really do it because of the way he was acting and because he was so drunk and she jumped on him and grabbed him around the neck. He finally let go of Kate1 and they got to the kid's house. Edward continued to be an asshole and said he was going to sleep on the deck in the backyard so they let him. During the middle of the night he woke up and started up again and was saying he wanted to walk home (he lives about 120 miles away).

The kids tried to subdue him and it ended in both of ny nephews fighting on the front lawn of their house. Aaron, the smaller,  younger nephew, actually got Edward subdued which is amazing given their size difference but Edward was super drunk and I think Aaron was more determined.

I went to my brother's house the next day to help clean up and the kids showed up and started telling us all this stuff. And that's when it got even worse. My nephew, Edward, was laughing about what happened. I explained to him that it was NOT funny, that he needs help, and that what he did was sickening. He kept saying two things over and over: 1) C'mon, Aunty, it's Kate's fault! She was mad at me! If she wasn't mad at me, I wouldn't have done that; and 2) C'mon, Aunty, don't you think that Kate was being a baby for being mad at me for calling her a n****r?   

I told him it was NOT her fault and she had the right to be mad at him for saying that. I finally told him to stop talking to me because he was making me sick.  I was pretty infuriated so I called my sister to talk to her about what had happened. She hadn't heard, her daughter (Kate1) hadn't told her what Edward had done. Needless to say, she was livid and called him to yell at him and . . . he denied the whole thing. Denied any memory of doing it. Denied telling me that it was Kate1's fault, etc.

So, as you can imagine, it's caused quite the uproar with the fam. Edward's family -- his father and sisters -- are disgusted with him and not speaking to him. My sister and her family - same. Me - same. But, interestingly, my other brother and his kids are sticking up for Edward. So, everyone's disgusted with them as well. Each of them (Aaron, Kate2 and my brother), and Edward, have called my sister and Kate1 multiple times to support Edward and to say it wasn't that bad, etc., which is funny -- they're trying to convince Kate1 that Edward doesn't remember doing it, never said the things to me that I said he said, that it wasn't that bad despite the fact that she was there and the one who was assaulted and despite her telling them that it WAS that bad and how much it physically hurt, how scared she was, etc.

Not sure what their motive is but, it's sickening. Super disgusting to me because I know what he said to me.  They finally stopped when Kate1 told Edward that they should get on a 3-way call with me and so he can ask why I would lie and say he said those things if he didn't. He said he had to go and quickly got off the phone.

Funny thing is, Edward sent me an email a day later apologizing for the things he said to me and saying that he didn't mean to sound so obnoxious and abusive, etc.

Family . . . ugh.