Category: jealousy

Today is the first day of school around here. I told my husband it feels so odd for this day to hold no special significance for us anymore. For over 18 years, the first day of school has kicked off a flurry of activity: jotting schedules and events onto our calendars, juggling orientations and open houses for four kids, looking forward to football games, meeting new teachers.

The first day of school is still exciting, though, even with no kids heading back this year. Back-to-school is a time of new starts, a new year, change, anticipation.

At least, that’s how it feels for normal people. For Psycho, a new school year revolved around something far more important to her than the kids have ever been: herself! Why waste precious time pondering the kids’ new opportunities, learning, or any of that meaningless nonsense when it can be all about her?

Yep, a new school year was her trigger to swing into action. There was a fresh crop of un-brainwashed teachers, just waiting to hear the latest rendition of Psycho’s victim story and wondrous tall tales about me and the kids’ dad. There were school events to hide from us and warn the kids not to mention to us. There were tantrums to throw about me volunteering at the schools, because who would believe her asinine lies if I kept showing up in person and showing her up in the process?

Without fail, a new school year also meant trying to remove me from the kids’ online school accounts, because what kind of mother wants a stepmom who (*gasp*) monitors the kids’ grades and attendance? Well, not a mother who doesn’t care if the kids fail a grade or receive truancy letters, I can assure you from experience.

It’s become such a heartfelt new-school-year tradition! Awww, I almost miss it today.

Psycho never seemed to think about how it made her look, though, not to me and my husband (who already know she’s a useless heifer), but to the school staff who had to deal with her petty request. And since I had to talk to them each and every year, thanks to Psycho’s unwavering immaturity and jealousy, I know full well what they ended up thinking of her.

Last year, when my youngest stepdaughter started her senior year, I naively thought that just maybe, Psycho would give it a rest and let one school year go by without her idiotic display of envy and resentment. Nope, Psycho stuck to her bitter guns and once again lashed out with a request to delete me from my stepdaughter’s online account:

Hmmm, another denial. Go figure. Well, at least Psycho has that going for her these days: given that denials, dismissals, rebuffs, and turn-downs are her only constant bedfellows…she should be more than accustomed to rejection in all its glorious and much-deserved forms by now.

Happy first day of school!