Me again. At this point I don't really expect anyone to read my long ramblings, lol. It just feels good to get these things off my chest. By typing them out, I feel a weight being lifted, even if it's just ever so slightly. Also, it helps to have something to refer back to when I decide to leave, or when either of the SDs ask me why I've disengaged.

So here's the Tale of the Thieving SDs:

 This past summer, DH surprised me with concert tickets at a venue that is also part of a winery. We were going to stay a couple of nights at the winery and see the concert, and possibly get a massage together. It was for my birthday. The grandparents (DH's parents) offered to take the SDs for this time. I wrote in a previous blog about how DH's parents bought a travel camper and spend most of their time traveling, but at this time they were staying on DH's paternal grandpa's property. DH's grandpa is newly widowed, and the nicest, most generous man. He is just so kind. He lives in a farm house on acres of land, and always has family over for berry or fruit picking, and outdoor activities. He has a ton of spare bedrooms, and because he has a lot of female grand and great-grandchildren, he set up a bathroom specifically for them that used to be his wife's bathroom before she died of cancer. In this bathroom he keeps not only feminine products but spa products, good quality shampoo and conditioner, brand new hair straighteners, etc. There is a note in the bathroom that says, "if anything in here runs out and you are embarrassed to ask for more all you have to say is that you want to go to the store and I'll take you". Even though the girls grandparents were technically the ones that were in charge of them while we were away, the SDs spent a lot of time in their great grandpa's house because he has a huge TV and internet access and the SDs hate going outside. 

So while great grandpa has this bathroom set up with everything girls would need or want, he also has a storage room that he keeps shut. In this storage room are things that used to belong to his wife that he cannot yet part with. One of those things is a really expensive (or expensive at the time it was purchased, anyways) brush type hair straightener. Great grandma liked to keep her hair nice and when she became too weak to do it herself, great grandpa bought this straightener so that he could do her hair for her. I personally think this is incredibly sweet and it makes me tear up every time I think about it. So he keeps this straightener because it still had some of her hair in it and because he claims he can still smell her shampoo on it. He has told us all, including the SDs, that this is why he keeps it and why they aren't allowed to use it.

Every day that we are gone, we call in the evening to check on the girls. DH's parents report that they are being spoiled by not only them, but great grandpa, who has been taking them out to eat and making them milkshakes every day with fresh fruit and berries from his farm. We talk to the girls and remind them to be good and say thank you.

At the end of our mini-vacation we pick them up on our way back home from the chateau. The next day, DH gets a call from his dad asking if the SDs have a hair straightener. DH thinks at first that his dad is asking because he bought them one or something. So he says yeah, we bought them each one a month or so ago. But DH's dad says no. I mean do they have THE hair straightener. Great grandma's hair straightener. DH calls the SDs into the living room and asks them. At first they deny it, but eventually SD10 admits that she and SD15 decided to take it. SD10 said SD15 asked her if she should take it and SD10 told her to do it. 

THEIR GREAT GRANDFATHER WAS HOLDING ON TO IT BECAUSE IT WAS ALL HE HAD LEFT OF HIS WIFE. They knew this! AND THEY STILL TOOK IT.

When asked WHY ON EARTH they would do that, knowing what it meant to their great grandpa and dispite everything he had done for them, do you know what their answer was? 

"I don't know, it just seemed like a really good hair straightener." 

Both SDs were grounded, told that they needed to write an apology letter, and brought over to great grandpa's to take care of his yard and surrounding property as a way to TRY to make it up to him. 

DH and I were incredibly disappointed and embarrassed. We still are. Stealing from family, especially family that bent over backwards to make sure you were comfortable and happy, is just so heartless and evil. Even more so given the fact that they KNEW the story behind this particular hair straightener and not only have their own, but had access to brand new ones at his house.