I Need A Moment To Vent

My father-in-law is getting under my skin. I think when he went to school way back when, they offered a class called HOW TO MAKE YOUR CHILD FEEL LIKE CRAP IN UNDER 30 SECONDS. He seems to be the expert, so he must have gotten an A+. For those of you who don't know, my husband has a protruding disk in his lower back. His doctor recomended surgery, but Junior won't do it. I don't blame him, it's risky. Anyway, he is in the process of roofing our house. After all the things he does for other people, he can't find anyone to help him.(but that's another story for another day) Del offered to pay a guy to do it, but Junior doesn't want him to spend that much money. So slowly, he has been doing a little at a time. He also works night shift and does odd jobs so that we can make ends meet. He sleeps less than 5 hours a day during the week, and likes to catch up on the weekends. Can you blame him? So for the past month or so, his dad calls almost EVERY day wanting to know why he isn't working on the roof. If Junior says he's tired or that his back is hurting from being up there the day before, his dad calls him useless. Tells him he'll never get it done. Basically calls him lazy. We had to run and get cat food this morning. We were gone 5 minutes cause we just ran down the road. His dad called while we were gone. Left this message, "hell, the asshole isn't even home". Nice, huh? I am soooo ready to tell him to shut his mouth if he doesn't have anything nice to say. But, I must respect my elders. So I suck it up. Junior doesn't say anything because he doesn't want his dad to have another heart attack. Just because he is in bad health DOES NOT give him the right to be so mean all the time. I wish he would realize how much he is hurting his son. I think Junior would have his own heart attack if his dad ever told him he is proud of him. How hard is that? Junior works REALLY hard to support his family. Growing up, his parents didn't make him do well in school, they never pushed him to go to college. He now regrets not pushing himself. He's 41 years old and living paycheck to paycheck. At least he can see how wrong his parents were in not supporting him, and he can be more loving and supporting to our children. He slips every now and then. But he is willing to admit his mistakes and learn from them. I know his dad is too old for that, but I hope one day before he dies, he is able to tell Junior that he DOES love him and that he IS proud of him.