My parents raised three children, me and my two younger brothers. And the first and second daughter-in-law are exact replicas of each other: their range of interests is limited to nail design, trips to beauty salons and the latest gossip. They have absolutely nothing in their heads, they are not even interested in their own children.
On the eve of his mother’s anniversary, I created a group in which I invited the family, neither one nor the second daughter-in-law, I did not call, they were invited by the brothers. We discussed what to give the birthday girl, and where best to celebrate the anniversary. The eldest daughter-in-law wrote:
– There is a cozy restaurant near my work, with good food and loyal pricing. I’ll run in and take pictures of the menu and send them.
– My friend decorates holidays, I can ask her to decorate the hall, – wrote the wife of the younger brother.
Somehow it happened that the daughters-in-law took all the trouble of organizing the celebration. No one asked them to do it, and their mother even discouraged them. However, the daughters-in-law shouted in unison that this kind of trouble was only a pleasure for them.
Of course, the cake was late and the balloons were of the wrong color, the kitchen in the restaurant was far from ideal, I would say of average lousiness. The mother tried to reassure everyone by saying: “The main thing is the attention and the people, and the rest are such little things!”
Before the hot meal was supposed to be served, my mother wanted to take a few pictures as a memento. My spouse volunteered to be the photographer, since he has a cool camera on his phone. After taking a couple of pictures of the birthday girl with her guests, my mother decided to take pictures exclusively with family members.
While the mother watched the results, both the first and second daughter-in-law ran off to smoke. The mother was not impressed with the pictures, so she asked that everyone be rephotographed. I dialed one of the daughters-in-law and asked them to come back, but she replied that we should take the pictures without them.
Only on the second try did we manage to get a flawless picture: everyone, including the anniversary girl and the kids, turned out just perfect. One of the pictures was a mother’s favorite. After the celebration, the mother sincerely thanked both one and the other daughter-in-law for such a wonderful celebration, and everyone went home.
After the celebration, the mother sent pictures to all the guests who were captured in the pictures. The mother sent pictures to her daughters-in-law as well. The wife of one of the brothers posted a picture of her husband’s slightly contorted face on her page.
Two weeks later, our mother also posted pictures from the anniversary on her social networking page, and one of the pictures she liked the most, she even decided to print on canvas. The mother captioned the photo, “My dearest people!” The problem was that this photo didn’t have the first or second daughter-in-law in it. There was no reason to run to the smokehouse!
Two days later, my brother told me his spouse said, “Let me, your in-laws, not ask me for anything else, since I am not one of her kin and I am not a member of her family!” I think the daughter-in-law saw the photo and was offended that it didn’t have her face on it.
The second brother’s wife was also offended and told her mother that this is not the way to deal with relatives, because neither she nor the second daughter-in-law are among our mother’s relatives. Her mother told her that we invited them, but they didn’t want to go. And if you put it this way, then who cares what pictures my mother put on her page and who cares how she signed them.
And the first and second daughter-in-law harbor mortal insult to our mother, saying that they were trying their best to organize a good holiday for their mother-in-law, and their faces aren’t even in the pictures. But didn’t they call them and ask them to come? We did! They didn’t want to come! Is it really such a serious problem that their faces aren’t in the picture? What pictures our mother buys and what pictures she posts is her own business, and no one has the right to limit her.
