An Apartment Without the Mother-in-Law: Escaping the Nightmare of a Shared Three-Bedroom
We arent buying a flat to live with my mother-in-lawI refuse to settle for a three-bedroom just to endure that nightmare.
My husband and I dream of a place to call our own. Weve taken out a mortgage and even borrowed money from his mother. She isnt unkind, but her constant meddling is unbearable. Since her husband passed, shes made it her mission to manage everyones lives, and its suffocating. She owns a spacious flat right in the heart of London, but my minds made up: Id rather have a small home thats truly ours. I wont let her shadow loom over our lives.
We found a three-bedroom in a new development. One room is tinyperfect for the walk-in wardrobe Ive always wanted. But my mother-in-law, Margaret Elizabeth, was furious. What a ridiculous idea! she snapped. Where will guests sleep? What if family comes to visit? Her piercing stare said it allshe was thinking of herself. Lately, she lingers at ours until ungodly hours, as if refusing to return to her empty flat. Her words felt like a sentence: if we take that third bedroom, shell move in.
Im not blindI see where this is headed. Margaret Elizabeth is lonely, and her concern has turned into smothering control. She calls three times a day to check in, offers unsolicited advice, and even tries to dictate how we furnish our future home. I refuse to share my house with her! My husband, James, and I are buying a place to build *our* life, not to indulge her whims, no matter how well-meaning she seems.
Ive drawn a line: no three-bedroom. Ill see your mother at holidays, I told James. If she wants a guest room so badly, she can make one in her own flat. He argued she just wants to be close, that shes growing older and the loneliness weighs on her. But I wont budge. I wont sacrifice my peace for her overbearing care. Id rather give up my dream wardrobe than turn our home into an extension of hers.
If guests visit, theyll sleep on an airbed. And if my mother-in-law insists on staying over, Ill find a hundred reasons to take her home. This is *our* house, *our* lifeand no one, not even her, will steal our right to be its masters.
