LeeAnn has some highly entertaining in-laws. That is, if you find shows like Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil entertaining.
Personally, I don’t understand in-law problems. My mother-in-law was a wonderful person and a great friend. The rest of my husband’s family are great too. They are more like real family to me than in-laws. When I talk about “my family” more than half the time I’m talking about my in-laws. My daughter-in-law and I are culturally incompatible (i.e. few tastes in common) but she’s a very sweet person and we get along great.
Of course there’s not much you can do when you’re dealing with someone who is clearly missing a few cards from their deck but, very often, getting along with another person is entirely a matter of choice. We can’t all be best friends but we can all at least be civil to each other. I know… there are some people who, no matter how civil you are, continue to be rude, demanding, judgmental and generally difficult and in those cases I’m clueless. As I said, I just don’t understand these things.
October 26th, 2011 - 9:02 am
I don’t know. I have one relative who, while not strictly speaking an in-law, is a difficult person to deal with…there are some issues there. It was not fun seeing this relative needle ANOTHER relative (who is a smart, funny,cool person) and claim they were a “failure” until that relative cried. This relative is also someone who is bent on getting her way and will make other people’s lives miserable if she doesn’t get her way.
Luckily, as I said, she’s not sufficiently “close” that I have to deal with her often – my immediate family is all very cool. In fact, the cool relative who was driven to tears by the OTHER relative said she’d rather hang out with my immediate family than with her own.
People are strange. I understand being disappointed if plans change or if a married couple wants to spend a holiday with the “other” family, or at their own home by themselves…but making yourself a nuisance if they do, until they get fed up and cave, is just ugly.
I don’t understand why some people enjoy this kind of drama; it just wears me out and makes me want to hide from people.
October 26th, 2011 - 3:52 pm
My in laws are the Jerry Springer types. They wouldn’t watch the show, because it’s easier to try and create their own. The plus side is, no matter what, I can’t say anything worse about my wife’s parents than what SHE says about them.
October 26th, 2011 - 6:08 pm
My in-laws are all terrific people whom I love dearly. My mother-in-law is included, although she did have one very odd habit of using gift-giving occasions to send out self-help books to the kids or their spouses. Nothing bucked up the old self-esteem like the one Christmas where, after a year of being unemployed, she gave me “The Purpose-Driven Life” and some book by Dr. Phil about “How to be a Family Man”!
October 27th, 2011 - 7:54 am
Luckily, they’re my sister-in-law’s husband’s people, so not clutter in my backyard. My mom-in-law, H’s mom, is fantastic. She just shakes her head and says, of the SIL, “I don’t know how she does it, but I’ll bail her ass out come the time it needs it.”
And oddly, she just loves me. I do not question this if I can help it.