Yesterday, my boyfriend of 1 year comes home looking pretty upset. He had just left to go to his parents house for a bit to pick up a suit for his grandmothers wake today. I rushed up to him to ask him what was wrong and he explained that he had gotten into a huge fight at home. He doesn't have a good relationship with his mother, who to me is the sweetest lady in the world, yet she seems to get on his nerves no matter what she says or does.
According to him they had argued about the time of the wake, apparently she had given him the wrong time and now was saying he needed to be there later. 4 pm instead of 3pm. I can sort of understand why he got angry about it because he had to take some time off work and he is a workaholic and hates disappointing on that front.
The argument proceeds to the point where he apparently sweeps all the food off the dinner table like in one of those movie scenes. His brother who was just sitting down to eat gets extremely upset and they start getting into a physical altercation while exchanging some pretty hostile words.
Their father gets in between them and my boyfriend proceeds to punch his father in the face. The day before his mothers wake.... And it wasn't an accident. He was so angry that he got in the way that he aimed and punched.
He decides to leave but not before throwing a piece of wood through the front door, shattering it and one into his fathers car, scratching it pretty badly.
I'm just so confused. This is so out of character for him. I didn't pass any judgement, just tried to be supportive but I'm so internally confused.
He wasn't upset about his grandmother at all, only that he needed to take time off work and I was thinking perhaps he was just more upset then he let on, but to the point of violence?
He's never ever shown any violent tendencies, however he is very stubborn and he won't listen to me about efforts to make things better with his family again.
I just want to understand where that strong reaction come from.