Had a lovely day yesterday. A few weeks ago, my elderly widowed mother was a bit unwell and had a night in hospital. She is vulnerable and my wife and I both discussed it and agreed it would be best if my she moved in with us. She agreed, and things have been fine until today. I made a joke about her knocking back a glass of wine, nothing nasty or malicious, I'm just not like that. She reacted strongly, firmly saying she hasn't made her mind up about staying and she can look after herself. My joke upset her and I apologised, but she is now saying she doesn't want to come between me and my wife - she isn't, we're fine - and that she looked after herself for decades and can still do it. She isn't incapable, but she isn't well, and doesn't look after herself properly. We've moved a lot of her stuff out of the house, with her consent, as she hoarded things for many years and it was, frankly, dangerous. My wife is brilliant with her and everything was going well until I stupidly opened my mouth.
I feel terrible. I've upset my mother, my wife is astonished at her reaction as she doesn't understand where it came from. I have set everything back by being stupid. This sort of thing used to happen when I was a boy, I'd say one "wrong" thing and my dad would fly off the handle and then give me the silent treatment for days. I've ruined holidays like that and now I've ruined Christmas. I hate myself.
