There are bad in-laws. And then there are the ones in today’s column. They’re not just bad, they’re evil …
Stella: My mother-in-law had zero friends to invite to our wedding. She asked me what to wear to the wedding. I said “anything as long as it’s a solid color pastel.” Her dress was black with 14-inch red and yellow flowers.
She brought bottles of liquor to the reception, which was in my parent’s home, despite it being a morning wedding. She knew we were serving only wine and beer at lunch.
She fed my baby meat and potatoes when I was breast feeding, mocking my decision to nurse.
She stood up from the Christmas dinner table, just after we’d carved the turkey, to call her other son to inquire how many types of breads and cookies I’d served my own family at Christmas the year before.
She has watched our 9-year-old child only one time when she was 5 years old. My husband and I went to a movie. While we were there, my girlfriend called us, telling us my mother-in-law had called her because our daughter was crying and we needed to go home immediately. (She had never cried with a sitter in five years.)
The problem was Grandma had stuck her in bed after we’d been gone 10 minutes, at 7 p.m., so she could watch reruns on TV.
She didn’t bother to play with her or read to her, nothing.
My mother-in-law encourages her other son to drunk-dial me and rage, while she sits there egging him on.
She showed up unannounced at our home (seven hours away) and tried to come in the back window, setting off the alarm. It’s been total hell being related to this woman.
Jana: I have a grandmother-in-law who would make your toes curl. When I got pregnant with my daughter, she asked how many guys I had slept with while I was with her grandson, my fiance, and then tried to push me down the stairs. And then she told me she hoped I’d lost the baby.
This past week she tried to convince my fiance that I’m sleeping with the security guard at her building. She asked him who I was to not allow her to keep our baby overnight. She’s 72 years old and overweight and completely incapable of taking care of my daughter.
She has threatened to sue us and tried to get me fired from my job. I’d like to add that she broke up my fiance’s uncle’s marriage and his mother’s marriage as well.
Kevin: My friends told me they saw my mother-in-law at a bar talking about how much she hated her son-in-law. She said if she had $10,000 she’d hire a hit man to kill him.
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I knew it was love . . . I knew it was over . . . Fill in the blanks and send them, along with your relationship questions and problems to cheryllavin@aol.com or Cheryl Lavin, 435 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611. Please include day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be used in whole or in part and become the property of the column.
