Every Day with My Mother-in-Law: How She Turned My Life Into a Nightmare
Not a day goes by without my mother-in-lawhow this woman has made my life a living hell.
When Theo and I got married, our first (and what I thought was the wisest) decision was to live far from our parents. He was an engineer at a posh private firm, and Id invested my share of my grandmothers flat sale into a mortgage. We were building our little nest, dreaming of peace, comfort, and a family of our own. But whod have thought his mum would move in with us?
She wasnt physically under our roof, but her presence was everywherein every plug socket, every cupboard, every teaspoon. No decision escaped her meddling, whether it was buying a kettle, curtains, or even a simple bath mat.
If I dared mention needing new net curtains, shed swoop in armed with binders, catalogues, and endless advice. For holidays, shed write scripts like we were in some amateur dramatics competition. Once, wed planned to celebrate New Years in a mountain lodge with friends. Everything was booked, shopping done, transport sorted. But she put on such a performance even Stanislavski wouldve tipped his hat. Tears, guilt trips, wailingA night this special, and youre abandoning your mother! Result? We stayed home, money wasted, while she critiqued TV presenters from her armchair like the Queen herself.
When I finally got pregnant, Theo and I decided to turn the guest room into a nursery. We barely mentioned it Next morning, she was on our doorstep with two workmen and rolls of wallpaper under her arm. I didnt even get a word inthe work had already started. Her plans. Her colours. Her vision. And there I was, in my own home, feeling like a stranger.
I told my husband a hundred times it was too muchthat I didnt feel at home anymore, that I wanted to pick my own things, from wallpaper to dish sponges. But hed just say, Mum only wants to help. Shes got good taste. Its all out of love. And what about *my* love? *My* taste? Do they mean nothing just because I didnt birth such a wonderful son?
Then came the grand finale. She turned up one day announcing triumphantly, Theo and I are off to Greece. I need a breakIve got the weight of the world on my shoulders. There I was, seven months pregnant, speechless. Not a word. My husband mumbled he couldnt let her go alone. So I made it clear: if he left with her, he could forget he had a wife.
The result? She stormed in screaming that I was jealous. That shed *given birth* to my husband and raised him, and I was just an ungrateful cow. That I couldnt go because I had a big belly, and now I was stopping her from having a breather after this thankless life. Long story shortshe did *everything* for us, and we
I dont even know whats right anymore. Im exhausted, living as three in a marriage of two. I dont want war, but I cant take this either. I feel myself disappearingas a woman, a wife, a soon-to-be mum. Im terrified once the babys here, shell pick not just the nappies but the name, the school, the friends
Girls, any advice on surviving a golden mother-in-law? Or is it hopeless? Should I just accept shell be here till the endlike a shadow, a voice-over, always louder than mine?
Tell me everything. I dont know how to fight this circus anymore.
