Dear Prudence,
My normally lovably crazy family has become truly unhinged. My 68-year-old father recently reconnected with his high school girlfriend, and now she’s moving in with him and my father says they may get married soon. My mother, who initiated a divorce from my father 12 years ago, is 62 and recently single. And though she has sworn never to remarry and has spent years bad-mouthing my father, suddenly she says she regrets the divorce, sees my father “as the man she married all those years ago,” and wants him back. As if this news was not shocking enough, she calls me constantly asking for “words of wisdom” on the situation, of which I have none. Most upsettingly, she has vowed to ruin any upcoming family gatherings by being overtly rude to my dad’s new girlfriend. I am someone who does not handle embarrassment or conflict well, and I am now basically dreading any future encounters with my parents (whom I love and have otherwise wonderful relationships with). How do I stay on good terms with both my parents without appearing to choose sides, and how do I handle uncomfortable family gatherings without collapsing into a crying heap?