Taking Sides

[Ronald]

This past Thanksgiving, my brother had too much to drink and said some things he shouldn't have... to my wife. Needless to say, she and I were both very upset, but now that Christmas has come and gone and the new year is practically here, I'm over it, because some time has passed and I know my brother wouldn't ordinarily have said those things. My wife, however, is NOT over it. Even more than a month later, she is still angry and wants nothing to do with my family. I don't want to take sides, but I don't know what to do to fix this... HELP!

 

[Jonathan]

I know how your wife feels. Many believe that what a man says when he is drunk is likely what he wants to say but he couldn't because it's not acceptable.

 

[Kost]

I really do not see a reason to black list the entire family over one member, I think they should sit down and talk it out. One should listen, the other should apologize after saying what she needs to, laying all the cards out on the table.

 

[James]

Ronald, I sympathize with how you must feel, being stuck between the family you were born to and the family you've made for yourself. However, I also sympathize with your wife, because like Jonathan said, she probably thinks he harbored those feelings/opinions all along. My advice would be to orchestrate a sit-down chat for the two of them, when he is SOBER, so that maybe he can better explain how he truly feels and apologize for being out of line when he was drunk.