Dinner with the interrupters is no picnic
Dear Amy: My wife and I socialize often with my wife's brother, "Brad," and his girlfriend, "Shelley."
Shelley tends to hijack conversations, steering them toward herself and/or her kids.
Lately, I've noticed that Brad does the same thing.
In one instance my wife began to talk about a current news event, and he jumped in after a couple of sentences and tried to wrestle the narrative from his sister.
I told him to please let my wife finish her thought and tell it her way, and then we could hear his thoughts. He took exception to this, and engaged his sister in his ire.
Last night we were with Shelley (Brad wasn't there) and at one point Shelley mentioned that I "don't like for her to talk."
She said she was intentionally quiet for the first couple of hours of the visit because of this.
I explained calmly that I never asked anyone not to talk, only that I want her to be respectful of boundaries when others talk.
She got upset, and abruptly left.
I don't want any friction, and I need to talk to her about this.
...continued
