Siblings are a wonderful thing.

You have an understanding, forged in childhood, that is difficult to recreate.

You’ve been through the same things, you’ve supported one another, and hopefully you’ll be there for one another for the rest of your lives.

But there will always be events – or people – in life that somehow get in the way of your relationship, at least for a while.

And the woman in this story has come across one of those moments in her relationship with her brother. This is new territory, and she doesn’t know what to do about it.

Read on to find out what happened.

AITA for telling my brother I’m sick of his friends?

I am a 28-year-old woman with a 30-year-old brother.

He has been one of my best friends for my entire life, we’ve always had a great relationship.

My brother’s wife Sarah (31, female) is wonderful, too.

Sarah does not have the best relationship with her family members for one reason or another, so she never understood why my brother and I were such good friends. Regardless, she has always respected it. She’s awesome.

But there are people in her brother’s life that aren’t so cool to be around.

Enter Bob (31, male) and Mary (31, female). Bob and Mary are their couple friends. They came into my brother’s life about five years ago and changed everything.

Bob and Mary are miserable. They often get into arguments in public and Mary actively discusses that she wants a divorce. Despite this, they still drag each other around. It’s very uncomfortable to be a part of anything with them.

Sarah is obsessed with their couple friends. She invites them everywhere. Family dinners? Bob and Mary. Children’s (not their own children, but nieces, nephews, etc) birthday parties? Bob and Mary.

If there is any sort of celebration, Bob and Mary are there, spreading misery.

My brother seems less thrilled about them, but they make his wife happy so he lets it slide. I never see or hear from my brother anymore. When I suggest a hang out, he can’t because Sarah has something planned with Bob and Mary.

Uh-oh. Let’s see how this woman is feeling about this lack of Bob-and-Mary-free time with her brother.

It’s exhausting. I used to see my brother twice a month. Now I’m lucky if I see him once every three months.

He no longer calls to just talk. He calls around when he wants someone to watch his pets and home while he’s out with Bob and Mary. I blame him as much as I blame his obsessed wife, of course.

Fast forward to this weekend: we are doing our annual tradition of going from my house to our grandparents’ house and then to his house to decorate Christmas trees.

We were all ready to go until they dropped a bomb: they invited Bob and Mary to join in.

I’m not the only one sick of this. My grandparents backed out and my parents said they would just stay home instead.

My brother was offended and asked why everyone dropped out.

Read on to see how her brother reacted when she finally came clean.

I finally had to admit to him that we’re all tired of Bob and Mary and how we have to put up with their negativity and arguing all of the time.

We all just wanted a family tradition to continue without including these combative, nasty strangers.

I told my brother that I missed him and wished we could be friends again, but that I can’t keep trying to maintain our friendship when I feel dismissed and used.

It’s been a few days and he hasn’t spoken to me since. I feel like a jerk for saying it so abruptly but I’m devastated that I no longer have a real friendship with my lifelong best friend.

AITA?

It’s such a shame that her brother and his wife have effectively become morphed with this miserable couple who bring everyone around them down.

They’re not family, and yet it seems like their presence is more important than family in the couple’s life.

But good on this sister and their grandparents for making boundaries and not allowing everything in their own lives to become the Bob and Mary show.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit had to say about this.

This person thought that the only way forward was to see family without her brother.

While others thought that she should sit down and hold peace talks with her brother and sister-in-law.

Meanwhile, this Redditor thought that her brother and sister-in-law were the ones in the wrong her.

It’s sad that it’s such a rare thing these days for siblings to be this close as they grow, and it’s great that this sister has (until now) managed to maintain that with her older brother.

But that’s no reason to keep putting herself in situations with her brother’s friends that make her miserable.

If her brother and Sarah really like Bob and Mary, then they can see them on their own time. They don’t need to come along to every family event – and the sister does not need to like them.

They’re not her people – and that’s okay.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.