Minnesota-Minneapolis and St. Paul

HELP! First real fight, am I being unreasonable?

Okay, this isn't exactly wedding-centered, but I don't know where else to talk about this.  I haven't posted much here, but I "lurk" at least once a day for the past couple months.  My fiance and I had our first real fight today about our easter plans, and I don't quite know what to do.

A little background:  My fiance and I have been together a year, engaged for five months (quick, I know!).  Things have been perfect, we have both been in very serious relationships before and knew pretty much exactly what we did and didnt want in a relationship.  I have a huge family that I am very close to, where my fiance grew up in foster care and has almost no contact with his mother.  He has only had a relationship with his dad for the past two years because he was in prison since he was four.  He sees his sisters occasionally, maybe once a month or so.  As for my family, we see them everyday, and my fiance usually loves this.  About a month after we got engaged and moved in together, both of us lost our jobs.  Though our parents make the same amount of money, my parents have stepped in without question and helped us pay everything from rent to cell phone bills to groceries.  They are also paying for the entire wedding, which they have set an incredibly generous budget. 

Okay, so here is the dilemma.  Thanksgiving, we split the day between families.  Christmas, we decided to spend an entire day with each family so spent all of christmas eve with his, then christmas day with mine.  About two weeks ago, we hadnt heard from his parents so we called to see what the plan was.  We were going to spend 11-3 with his family, then 3-7 with mine.  About a week ago, his dad called to say his sister couldnt make it this year so he would just come and take us out to dinner.  I said this would be silly, and invited his parents to come to our gathering (we have about fifty relatives who come).  They declined, saying they would rather take us out and then spend "alone time" together for the rest of the evening.  We are already spending all of tomorrow with his sisters, doing an easter egg hunt and having dinner.  If I go along with the "new" plan with his parents, I will miss dinner with my entire family I only see three times a year and the easter egg hunt with my nieces and nephews I am very close to.  I just dont think this is fair.  My fiance is saying I am putting my family over his, and we never see his parents so we should cater to their schedule.  His parents only live twenty minutes away, its his choice that he never goes to see them.  My parents do everything for us, I dont think its fair to neglect them at Easter, especially when my family invited his and they declined. 

When I try to argue my point, my fiance says that he feels so strongly about this because he never had holidays with his dad growing up because he was in prison.  I feel bad, but its just unfair.  My family feels offended that they declined the invitation, and I can't go now without upsetting my family. This is our first real fight, I'm even spending the night at my parents. :(

What do I do?  Just give in and go with his family to make him happy, but upset mine on Easter?  How can I explain it to him without seeming selfish for wanting to be with my family?  I know this isnt normally what is discussed here on the boards, but I dont have really any close girlfriends to talk to.. and I know this is what struggles you face when putting together a family, and there is always lots of girls here with good advice.  Any would be greatly appreciated.  :)


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Re: HELP! First real fight, am I being unreasonable?

  • edited December 2011
    This is a tough one...but it sounds like you had the Easter plans already in place..and if was me, I wouldn't change the plans if things changed the week before.  Is there another day/weekend you could celebrate with his parents?  I guess I'm lucky because both of our parents would understand if they changed the plans after they were set, they wouldn't expect us to change the plans with the other side...we'd find another time to celebrate/get together.  I just don't think it's fair to miss your family completely when it was his parents who are changing the plans.

    It's not an ideal situation but could you each spend the day with your own family?  I know it's not the best solution but it would probably make the least amount of hurt feelings and drama.

    GL, situations like this stink!!
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  • IzzygrimIzzygrim member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    So I'm not totally sure I understand the schedule, but is the plan for you two to spend tomorrow (Saturday) with his sisters, but NOT his parents? Or are they going to be there too? Is it Sunday dinner that his parents want to take you out for? I know some families find it very important to celebrate a holiday on the actual day (my FI's family), whereas some are fine with finding a day that works for everyone (mine). Would it work for his parents to spend the day with you two and his sisters on Saturday? Then you could have the whole day with them, which seems like it would be a win-win situation. And is the sister who can't make it an adult sister or child? I would think if she was an adult and just couldn't make it this weekend, that shouldn't have to change the plans to spend Saturday with his family and Sunday 11-3 with his family, unless there is something I am missing. I would pitch it something like "Dear, we can spend all of Saturday and all day until 3pm on Sunday with your family, if we can just spend 3-7pm with mine on Sunday". That seems fair. That gives his parents 1 1/2 full days to see you guys, whereas you'd be seeing yours for only 4 hrs, which may be fair in a way since you see yours so often. Would that work?

    Since my FI's family finds it very important to celebrate holidays on the actual day, FI have spent many holidays apart actually. My family lives 2 hrs out of town and his is in town, so if we often come to the agreement that if he just has to see his family on the day, but that I want to see my family for the weekend too, we end up spending the holiday apart. We are doing this less and less now that we are engaged, and don't do it with all holidays, but honestly, for us it works. Once we're married I'm sure it will be a different story.

    IMHO, and I know it's none of my business, but if I were to give you honest advice (obviously coming from a place where I don't know you and your FI or the full story), I'd say DON'T let this make you spend the night apart. This is going to be a recurrent issue for you guys, so sometime when you're both calm you're going to need to come up with a plan of how to split time between families. I think spending the night apart makes it into a much bigger deal than it needs to be (again, just and outsider's viewpoint) and instead of working together to come up with a solution, it pits you two against each other. This should be a good chance for you two to really figure out how to communicate and compromise.

    Again, I know I don't know the whole story, so just take my advice for what it's worth. Good luck and I hope that helps! Holidays should be able to be a happy time :(
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  • edited December 2011
    My FI and I went through a similar situation when we first started dating.  My whole family lives in Minneapolis and his lives in Iowa - 3+ hours away.  It seemed like for the first year we had this fight for each major holiday, finally we decided to split and rotate the holidays - so for example this year I got Christmas, Memorial day, 4th of July and he gets Thanksgiving, Easter, and Labor day. Next year he will get the other holidays.  It's not perfect, my mom has already called me 3-4 times trying to guilt me into coming but she is starting to understand that while she is my mom, he is about to be my husband and I have to make sacrifices in the best interest of our relationship. 

    Another thing is that I think you get more comfortable, as your relationship progresses, spending time apart.  There have been holidays and other times where I will say "yep, going to see my family, come if you want to" and he will decide to stay home or go see his family.  At first that was REALLY strange but now it's OK.  We try not to make it a normal thing, but if it happens its not the end of the world.  

    Basically,  I think (IMHO) you guys just need to set up a plan that works for you and then stick with it, and make sure both parties understand that sometimes stuff changes and its out of your control, but for the sake of the relationship you need to follow the plan (or do things independently). 

    GOOD LUCK 
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  • Enchanted616Enchanted616 member
    500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Thanks so much for the advice!

    I wish it was as simple as that, but one of his sisters doesnt speak with his father for drama I don't quite understand, so they wont be there saturday.

    I know it seems like its not a big deal.. but my family is sooo important to me, and he's known (and been very okay with) that from the beginning. 

    Image and video hosting by TinyPic
    Finished BC and not preventing since June 2010.
    Actively trying for baby #1 since July 2011.
    SA completed 5/29/2012. No sperm found.
    11/12: Dx: Congenital Bilateral Absense of the Vas Deferens.
    Genetic Testing needed as this is a mutation of Cystic Fibrosis.
    IVF #1 with ICSI planned for 2013.
    PAIF/SAIF welcome!
  • edited December 2011
    What time is your family get together? If you were originally going to go from 3-7 with your familly.. Couldn't you at least spend 3 hours with your family and go to dinner around 6 with his family? Maybe that would be reasonable? It does seem like a hard decision. How does he feel about you spending the night @ your parents?? This may make him upset... It seems like it would only add more frustration. 1) He says he "Never" sees his family, and with your argument he has the choice to do so, since they live 20 min away.. But 2) Your first real fight and you decide to leave. I'm not here to judge. You are in a tough situation. I've been with my fiance for 6 years before I was engaged. We faught all the time, over little things.. and yes, there have been times where i've left, but I ALWAYS heard about how imature that was when I returned home... maybe that's why it took so long for him to ask the big question. Ha Ha... Any way.. We're always here to help. Good luck with your decision. Everything will turn out for the best. Give us an update will you?
  • edited December 2011
    How did things turn out? I hope you went back home and were able to talk with your FI about things and work them out. I know whenever my DH and I fight we end up closer and stronger, and overall better people in our marriage and life, little by little anyways.
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