The mistake that WILL be rectified.... Hopefully

There are times when, I have to admit, I am not the brightest bulb in the pack. One of those times was not so far in the past when I made the mistake of asking my brother and his wife to be my son's god-parents when Nathan decided he wanted to be Catholic. I should have just had my mom be god-mother and left it at that.

At the time, I thought it was a good idea. David and Amy are both practicing Catholics, and it wasn't as though Nathan would ever be living with them (as I have made other arrangements for his care should something ever happened to me). I also figured that if Nathan had questions that his grandmother or I could not answer, he could go to them.

BIG mistake that I am now regretting terribly. I first started realizing my mistake when David alienated our sister by insulting her fiance and saying that he wouldn't consider Kendrick (Brandie's fiance) a part of the family, even though the two had been living together for 7-8 years and engaged for 5, because they weren't actually married yet and he doesn't think they ever will be. Brandie promptly cut off all ties with him, Amy and the kids.

Even now, knowing that all he has to do is apologize for what he said, David insists that until they are "properly" married, he will not consider Kendrick family and will not allow his kids to do so either because they are living in "sin". When mom pointed out that even when they do get married, it won't be in the church, David replied with "Well they can still get their marriage blessed by the church." Umm... Yeah... Ain't gonna happen cause they are NOT Catholic.

As if that wasn't bad enough, he and Amy have constantly bad-mouthed Amy's brother for the fact that he lived with his girlfriend and had 2 kids with her before they finally got married in a small outdoor ceremony with a Backyard BBQ-style reception. Amy and David were so livid that they refuse to acknowledge the marriage at ALL, because in their opinion, her brother and his wife had been trying to scam the government out of tax money by living together without being married. Not only that, but she took personal offense at the fact that it was casual dress wedding/reception that, again, did not take place in the church, and it was after kids where born. So Amy viewed the entire thing as being nothing more than a party where they were asking for presents.

I am not at all surprised by all this. When I found out I was pregnant about 4 months before David and Amy's wedding, they acted as though I had done it on purpose with the sole intent of taking attention away from their big day.

And now, I am left wondering, if they are saying all this stuff about Brandie and Kendrick, and Amy's Brother, S-I-L and their kids, then what on earth are they saying about me and Nathan behind my back. Whatever it is, if it is bad, they have been smart enough to NOT mention it to me or my parents. As that would seal David's fate in being completely disowned by the family. Even mom and dad have said that they will not tolerate him speaking out against Nathan.

And now, to make matters worse, he is living with us and Mom and Dad have both admitted that they think we all made a mistake in allowing David and Amy to be Nathan's god-parents. Why? Because David has started acting as though he is more Nathan's parent than I am. More his guardian, then my folks are. He told mom she was not doing enough to teach Nathan Catholicism (not true). He takes insult that Nathan has an open mind when dealing with other religions or belief systems.

I finally got to the point where I no longer had to hide the fact that I am pagan from my folks, and I was able to openly talk about my views around them and Nathan without worry that my mom would freak out, and now I am back at square one, because David can't tolerate the idea that I have different beliefs than him. And, worse than that, that I (shiver) EXPOSE MY SON TO THOSE BELIEFS! Oh the HORROR!!!

Don't get me wrong. I am not trying to convert my son to my beliefs. HE, Nathan, decided he wanted to be Catholic after having been exposed to a few different choices. He was 7 at the time, and I felt he knew exactly what he was doing. So I said yes, and ever since, my mom has essentially been the one taking care of his religious education. But Nathan is a smart kid. He has questions about other faiths, and yes, most of those questions are about my faith and beliefs. He respects them and is even intrigued. And so when he asks questions, I answer. I am not going to lie to him. And I will not have him thinking that people who believe differently than him are wrong or evil or anything like that.

But I will admit, I was prepared to tone down on the Pagan stuff around David. Mainly because if I do not, I may not get to see my nieces and nephews again. So no big there necessarily. Save that it irritates me to have to tone it down in my own house. But my folks asked me to, to save hassle, considering that my brother is already near the breaking point.

No, what really irritates me, is that Nathan and I can't even joke around about the Evil Overlord stuff around David anymore. Because he finds that offensive as well, and Nathan shouldn't be exposed to that either!

Quick sidetrack. For those of you who do not know. There is a web Site, www.eviloverlord.com, where there is a list of "100 things I Would Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord." Actually, it is 233 once you include Cellblocks A & B. It is nothing more than a compiled list of the most common mistakes that every villian in movies, books or on TV has ever made. Only it is listed in such a way as to say, I will NOT make that mistake myself.

It includes such rules as "Shooting is not too good for my enemies," "After I kidnap the beautiful princess, we will be married immediately in a quiet civil ceremony, not a lavish spectacle in three weeks' time during which the final phase of my plan will be carried out," "After I kidnap the beautiful princess, we will be married immediately in a quiet civil ceremony, not a lavish spectacle in three weeks' time during which the final phase of my plan will be carried out" and "I will not turn into a giant snake. It never helps."

It is HILARIOUS! And due to my love of it, and making my friends all read it (and if you have not read it, you REALLY need to), I got nick-named "Evil Overlord" and as a running joke, some of my friends took on the names Wicked, Mean and Nasty, so that we had "Evil, Wicked, Mean and Nasty". After that, more friends wanted in on it, and it snowballed from there where everyone, for a while at least, was adopting a similiar-type name and were my "minions."

Well, some of those friends moved away and some I lost touch with, and one I am on the outs with, so as far as my friends go, the joke has run its course. But Nathan, who took on the name "Despicable" still likes to joke with me about taking over the world. So he pretends to make evil devices and he asks me to resist the rules and such.

Now Nathan understands that this is all pretend and that he is never to actually commit any crime or hurt anyone, and he gets in trouble if he does anything wrong. But I guess that David is not as good at separating pretend from real anymore because he does not see it as pretend or a joke. He thinks that Nathan shouldn't be exposed to it. Yet David's son is the one that thinks Pinky and the Brain are real and is always coming up with his own plots to take over the world, while David claims that he (David's son), understands that it is all fake.

I guess the difference is that Pinky and the Brain are just insane and the are cartoon characters, where as I am real, mentally competent and a Pagan, so I MUST really BE evil.

Me. The person who bends over backwards to help people, who is always giving her all for her friends, and who has been accused (I kid you not) of being TOO nice at times (except when I am writing or pissed that is)!

Yeah. I am truly an evil person....

Heavens help me! I can't wait until he is able to move out!!!!

The funny thing is, he and Amy are trying to figure out how to get her sister's ex-fiance to no longer be their son's god-father, as well as trying to figure out how to get her brother out of being the god-father to one of the other kids. Mom's thought? She hopes they do get it figured out. Cause as soon as they do, she wants us to get David and Amy out of being Nathan's God-parents. And I have to say ... I am in complete agreement on that one.