Shh...Don't Tell

You know, I sometimes long for the days before the telephone was invented. Because really, no matter how far away you move, people can find you. And by people, I mean family.

About two months ago, my sister and I had a HUGE blowout fight over the phone about her relationship with this man she's been dating. As the argument went on, we realized that the information that we were throwing at one another had come from one source - our mother. Mom now lives with my sister and apparently enjoyed the game of "guess what your sister told me". Yes, while I'm sure she got hours of laughs out of this sick little game, it was quite distressing for me. For instance, when mom would gripe about how much time sister's boyfriend was spending at the house and how much time they spent in bed, I would commiserate with her and add my two cents about how ridiculous they were being. Mom would, apparently, go back to sister and share only my side of the conversation. So when the big blowout hit, I was met with comments like "You are always mocking my relationship!" or "You wish bad things for me". Now, you have to realize that I never said these things directly to her and so I knew who told her these things. Frankly, I try not to discuss anything specific with my sister. We're great at generic conversations - food, TV shows, Disney - but beyond that, I try to avoid it.

So last night I'm on the phone with mom and she's griping about sister, the boyfriend, my nephew, their living situations, all the same old song and dance. And with each topic that she brings up, she starts with "Don't you dare tell your sister this! I'll deny it!"

???

Excuse me, but she obviously has forgotten exactly WHO is the blabber-mouth in this relationship. So I say "of course I won't" to all of her pleadings but in the back of my mind, I'm pretty pissed. I mean, at the time of the fight with my sister, I told mom that I did not appreciate her ratting me out and the ONLY reason I ratted her out to my sister was for retaliation. We're a mature bunch. So now I have to grin and bear it and force myself to be polite and not remind her of our past issues. For those of you who know me, you know it's hard for me to keep my mouth shut on anything!

I wonder how far away I would have to move to stop all forms of communication?