On the first full day back in New York on Tuesday, my mom decided to call and yell at me, blaming me for my aunt, my dad’s younger sister, showing up to the wedding wearing jeans. Apparently, she had claimed she was sick (and definitely sounded sick), missed the ceremony and rushed over in her street clothes to attend the reception. She was clearly mad at me for not allowing her on-again, off-again boyfriend to attend, yet she had no hesitation about crashing my farewell brunch that she RSVPed “no” for and also bringing the boyfriend. Needless to say, he was not warm with me at all and didn’t thank us for brunch.

“This is all your fault,” my mom yelled at me. “This is what happens when you don’t listen to me. I told you to just let her boyfriend come, but no, you had to be stubborn and not listen.”

I told her that it didn’t matter and it was pathetic she was getting so angry about it. “I have no face; don’t you understand?” she screamed into the receiver. I said I wasn’t going to deal with this and said I was hanging up. So I did. It’s my mom’s nature to focus on the tiny bad things and get all angry in her delusional world. But now I can stomp them out.

It feels good to not care about my extended relatives and their selfish tendencies and made-up dramas. It’s also liberating to say out loud that I no longer will make them a part of my life.