Dear Carolyn: For some reason, my loud, raucous, extended family all like to poke fun at the expense of my sweet, shy, quiet husband. I don’t know why he’s singled out, but every time he just ends up being the lightning rod for my brothers’ dirty jokes and my dad and uncle’s drunken nicknames. My husband takes it in stride, but it’s beginning to irritate me.
It’d be one thing if it were good-natured, but some of the things they say are pretty mean-spirited.
I know I can’t control my family, but short of downing many beverages, is there anything I can do to keep myself from going ballistic on them? I already asked them to tone it down and they all just laughed at me.
