Are you a master manipulator?

You just described my mother in law. She is 70, a hypochondriac, and uses her "sicknesses" to draw attention and sympathy. She's driven away her first husband, several friends, her sister, and even her own son. Only her second husband, a long time friend, and her cousin buy into her games.

She brags about how educated she is, of all the college courses she's taken, how cultured she is, etc. Her sister told me she has a year of secretary school and that's it. She pours over medical books and can hardly get a doctor to see her because she ends up telling them how to do their job. Nurses in the ER nicknamed her "the doctor" because she seems to have all the answers and the doctors cannot find a thing wrong with her other than mental illness.

She is mean spirited and critical. Her husband worships the ground she walks on, and she would probably die without him, his medical plan, and his big paycheck for her to spend on fancy gifts for people to impress them. Yet she belittles him, takes credit for the nice meals he prepares (saying she has to "instruct him" because he doesn't know what he's doing). Her only son, my husband runs a successful business geared towards helping others, but she doesn't approve because he never became anything that made her look good like a lawyer or a doctor. A million words could not do her justice. The few people she has in her life are kind and giving, and put up with her garbage.

Ironically, she gave me a copy of "The Great Gatsby". I say it is ironic because like her, he was lied about his education and manipulated his way to sucess. There were so many similarities.

It's not worth fighting or arguing with her. To tell you the truth, it's just sad. Everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie. The only truly great thing she has accomplished was bringing my husband into the world. She can't even take credit for how he turned out because he is opposite of everything she is, and from a teenager he made sure he would never be anything like her, because he saw her for what she was.

I'm more of a Jedi mind trick guy......"These aren't the Droids your looking for"

my ex is 47 and he was the same way.

yep you said it..just have nothing to do with them problem solved

I don't understand what the question is.

amen sister!