I think I just created the most tension between the 'rents and me than there has been in a laaawng time. It wasn't intentional, but there was probably a subconscious motive.

They've eased off the constant calls since that fortune teller's dire predictions about me. After they called on Christmas and I lied to them saying I was at work, I surprisingly hadn't heard from them at all. 

I didn't respond to an e-mail from my sister-in-law last month, and regarding her sister's wedding this coming weekend, to which I was sent an invitation, but ... I'm not going to go into it. Suffice it to say, I'm not going. All contact with that second tier of family is dead.

Tonight I let it escalate when the 'rents started rehashing and going into stuff they know nothing about and have no business inquiring into, and I dug into them with a series of "What makes you think I would..." questions, and they backed off really fast.

Mind you, our relationship in the past was really bad. It only got better when I unilaterally called a truce, and they didn't question it. They didn't ask what happened, they just went along with it. Nothing was resolved, nothing was discussed. There was no understanding, no resolution.

Any hint of a return to our previous relationship scares the FUCK out them. I guess they know how cold and nasty I can be. They don't know how much more cold and nasty I can be now if I wanted to. They coerced me to go to law school. I have skillz now. I WILL use my powers for evil if they provoke me.

They backed off, and then I backed off. They got off the line as fast as they could, and I ended with my characteristic, "Thanks for calling". I meant it to be sincere, but given the circumstances, I imagine it might have come off as sarcastic. I think I've heard the last of them until my next attempt.

Further mind you, that a return to our previous relationship scares the fuck out of them is a point I should and do appreciate. Many many parents are too proud and too mindless to realize that something has improved when it has. They just keep on digging into an issue maintaining their stance and perspective and opinion and pride, even if it means sacrificing their relationship with their own progeny.

My parents don't know what they're doing, but they're somewhere viscerally aware of what they don't want and know how to avoid it; to back off. To me that means they "care" enough to back off. And even if it's self-serving, it is a letting go, an opening up – good things.

Parent-child relationships where at least one party doesn't or can't put things into perspective are always a sad thing.