It's Getting Weird Up In Here

Now I'm wishing I had posted this before the New Year. Oh well. It's a new year, not a new life.

Hubby and I just recently met my brother's fiancee. From Ireland. She has a beautiful thick accent, and a gorgeous ring - it's similar to the one in the link only in platinum and the band goes under it as well and makes it even more gorgeous. She's pretty, and kind, although she did call my brother a "twat" (with the w quite pronounced and the "a" as in "apple" not in "ah") and "ediot" in the same sentence during our 5 minute meeting. Is that a good sign?

The Irish have this tradition where when a girl is engaged any other women that sees her engagement ring, whether married or not, takes off her ring, puts on the engagement ring and turns it 3 times towards her heart, making a wish for the bride, the groom, and herself. I wished for happiness and a close relationship with God for each of us. To me a wish is a prayer, and it doesn't matter if you share it, it'll still happen if it's meant to happen - maybe even more so.

The strange part of it is, he's divorced with 3 kids. I guess that doesn't seem so strange, but the youngest is 3, and the whole transition happened very slowly and very strangely. First they bought a house out in Texas and my brother was supposed to stay here and work and then move out there when they'd saved up a good chunk of money. Then he found a girlfriend, a pretty serious one. Then my sister-in-law decided she at least wanted her kids around their Dad and moved back. Girlfriend and brother broke up. Now a year or so later he takes off to Ireland for a week or two to meet a girl I'm thinking he met online - the first pics he sent me of her were her by herself in Ireland. A few weeks later the girl from Ireland comes here, she's his fiancee and supposedly going to have his baby.

My sister-in-law is very close to our family - so close that my Mother has said she's adopted her as her fifth daughter. She works for my parents, lives nearby, and her other family is far, far away. In other words, she's around her for the long haul. But my brother, her ex-husband, isn't.

I'm not depressed over this, just a little sad in the effect of it all and mulling it over and wondering how in the heck things ended up this way. Strange how life turns out.