After we got married my parents-in-law gave us a room in their apartment. I mother of her husband immediately warned that in his room to put things in order at my discretion: I myself will make repairs in it, to clean it when I have time or desire, as well as how I like to arrange the furniture in it.
To avoid unpleasant surprises, I asked my husband to install a lock. When my mother wondered why, I told her, “Mommy, you also used to be young, we at any time can be without clothes …” My mother-in-law blushed, but didn’t ask any more questions, and she never came into our room without knocking again.
My mother-in-law said that the kitchen was her domain. She wasn’t going to put up with anyone putting pots and pans in it in their own way. I swore to my husband’s mother that I would only do the dishes and arrange them the way she said.
Neither she nor I had any claim to the bathroom, so we took turns cleaning it. The hardest thing for me to accept was that my mother-in-law could refuse to sit with my grandchildren. Both my sisters and I were raised by my grandmother. My mother could even bring us to her without a phone call. Even if my mother-in-law agreed to watch our children, she would ask every time, “What did Mommy make us to eat?”
I had no choice but to accept the fact that my mother-in-law owed me nothing in this life. Thanks to her for letting us in her house, and she and her father-in-law took care of all the utility bills.
I never took advice from unmarried friends! When I complained to them about my spouse’s mother, they kept telling me that if they were in my place, they would have spoken out to that lady!
My married sisters always told me that I gave birth to a baby for me, not for my spouse’s mother, so I was solely responsible for him. If I had to leave my son at home, I could always bring him to my mom or them. They set me up every time that a bad peace is better than a good war.
Let me say right away that I was only guided by the advice of my married sisters, who knew firsthand what it was like to live together with their spouse’s relatives. But to follow the advice of my unmarried friends, who knew about married life only in theory, I was in no hurry!
What do you think about it?