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10 Reasons Your In-Laws' Fake Family Vacation Will Make You Contemplate the Void — Number 7 Will Destroy Your Soul



Ever notice how people expect you to spend thousands of dollars and precious vacation days pretending to like them? It's like we're all actors in this grand cosmic farce where the script reads "pretend to give a shit" and the audience is absolutely no one because the universe is cold and indifferent to your family drama. This poor woman's in-laws have spent 17 years treating her like an unwelcome fungus on their family tree, and now they want her to drop four grand to celebrate Dad's continued existence in a meaningless reality where birthdays are just arbitrary markers on our inevitable march toward oblivion.

My husband (33M) and I (33F) have been together since we were 16. In all the years we've been together, his family has never really made an effort to get to know me or build any kind of real relationship. Meanwhile, my husband and I are both very close to my family — holidays, birthdays, casual hangouts, all of it.

After we got married a couple of years ago, not much changed. His family still has very limited contact with us (months go by without a call or text) — mostly just showing up to dinner for birthdays and major holidays. I've always felt like an outsider, and it's hard for me to show up and pretend like we're one big happy family when the truth is they've never really included me or made me feel welcome. Some examples: 1) his mom's birthday is just two days away from mine, and she refused to acknowledge my birthday until we were married. 2) I have always passed on gifts for holidays, anniversaries and Mother's Day etc. even when I was not invited or included, but the gesture has never been reciprocated until after we were married and my husband had to make a point to his mom to get me a Christmas gift.

Now, his dad is turning 60, which I understand is a big milestone. I'm happy to celebrate with them and attend any kind of party or dinner. But here's the issue: his mom wants to plan a week-long trip to an all-inclusive resort to celebrate and expects us to join.

I've already voiced to my husband that I'm not comfortable with this. Aside from the obvious cost (around $4,000 for both of us), I really don't want to spend 7 days of my limited vacation time making small talk and pretending to be close with people who've never shown real interest in getting to know me. I feel like I'm being asked to fake a relationship that doesn't exist, and honestly, that feels draining and disrespectful to my own time and emotional energy. It just feels fake.

My husband understands how I feel, but I can tell he's torn. I told him I support him going if he wants to, but I personally don't want to go.

So... AITA for not wanting to spend a week on vacation with my in-laws?

Source

The Fucking Absurdity of It All

Let's dissect this shitshow like a high school biology frog, shall we? This woman's in-laws have spent nearly two decades perfecting the art of emotional distance while maintaining just enough connection to avoid being called complete assholes. It's like they've been playing social Jenga with her feelings – removing one block of basic human decency at a time to see how long before the whole relationship collapses into a pile of resentment.

Her mother-in-law couldn't acknowledge her birthday until after the wedding? That's not just being an asshole – that's Olympic-level emotional constipation. These people have elevated indifference to an art form that would make even Warhol say, "That's a bit fucking much." They're like those fish at the bottom of the Mariana Trench that evolved without eyes because they decided sight wasn't worth the evolutionary effort – except instead of eyes, it's basic human connection they've decided to forego.

And now – NOW – they want her to spend seven days in paradise playing Happy Families? That's like asking someone who's been eating shit sandwiches for 17 years if they'd like to upgrade to a premium shit sandwich with artisanal bread and locally-sourced shit. It's still a shit sandwich, Karen.

The husband being "torn" is the cherry on this sundae of existential horror. This man has been watching his family treat his partner like an optional DLC character for almost two decades, and he's "torn" about whether she should spend $4,000 to continue the tradition in tropical splendor. His moral compass isn't just broken – it's been disassembled, run through a wood chipper, and scattered across multiple landfills.

The vacation itself is just another performance in humanity's desperate attempt to pretend we're not all just decaying organic matter hurtling through space. It's a $4,000 ticket to a seven-day theater production called "We're A Family" starring people who couldn't be bothered to text for months. It's like paying to see Hamilton but the actors only mouth the words while staring directly at you with dead eyes.

The Void Stares Back

In the end, what we're witnessing isn't just family drama – it's the fundamental absurdity of human connection in a universe that will eventually be nothing but cold, lifeless particles floating in endless darkness. This woman isn't just avoiding an expensive vacation – she's refusing to participate in the collective delusion that meaningful bonds can be purchased with all-inclusive margaritas and forced proximity.

The real asshole here isn't the woman – it's existence itself for creating a reality where we're expected to perform relationships with people who barely acknowledge our humanity. It's the social contract that demands we sacrifice our authentic selves on the altar of family harmony, even when "family" is just a word applied to strangers who happen to share DNA with someone we love.

If there's any comfort in this bleak scenario, it's that eventually the sun will expand and consume the Earth, erasing all evidence that any of this ever happened. So really, what's $4,000 in the grand scheme of cosmic annihilation?

For Those Too Stupid to Understand What I Just Said

Woman's in-laws ignore her for 17 years ๐Ÿ™„, then expect her to spend $4,000 ๐Ÿ’ฐ on a week-long vacation ๐Ÿ️ pretending they're one big happy family. Husband is too spineless ๐Ÿ to tell Mommy no. Woman doesn't want to waste money and vacation days ๐Ÿ“… on people who treat her like she's invisible. The universe doesn't care either way ☠️, and we're all going to die alone anyway. Save your money for therapy instead. ๐Ÿง ๐Ÿ’Š

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