Thanks. My niece seems to be taking after her mother in the self-centred and thoughtless category. She used to seem so wise and kind, but I guess her mother got to her. She was "okay" just a few years ago.
I don't know if it's more meanness or just denial on her part. When she's related stories or anecdotes relating to her mother, she does so with sincerity, maybe not realizing that there are those (like me) who are in the "know" who realize it's a bold-faced lie. Maybe I should feel a little sorry for them, it's not a real, honest relationship, I guess.

Maybe I am just sick of feeling "in the middle", because I get along with my parents, but feel I'm getting isolated or frozen out along with them. I've always known what my sister was like, and can spot one of her fanciful stories a mile away, or in my current case, several thousand miles away.