distance creates the closest families

So, I'm back from 3 weeks with my family. And while the visits with individual aunts, uncles, cousins and brothers were good, my dad's girlfriend could not have been more poorly behaved. Rewind - my mother died of cancer 4 years ago and the hag moved in a year later, much to my horribly lonely fathers delight. the children, myself included, all dislike her for various reasons but this visit took the cake, rallying her to such ultimatums as "you need to choose - your children or me!" Who says such a thing. The sister in law noone likes also threw a tantrum resulting in one brother now avoiding all family functions for some indeterminate time. Living away from my family has been a source of angst for me for 15 years, as I miss the big get togethers and events and think my children will grow up restless and flightly by not having the village of family to watch over them. But in church last sunday, reflecting on all the great things my life has brought our family, i vowed to stop the cycle, and act with love and forgiveness in dealing with the crabby girlfriend and mentally unstable sister in law. Good luck to me, eh?