My husband comes from a truly wonderful family. Though his parents have a daughter of their own, they welcomed me as one of their own from the very beginning.
My mother-in-law is a wise woman in every sense. Not once have we quarrelled—not even over the smallest matters. She has a way of making remarks so carefully and tactfully that I’ve always taken them in stride.
My sister-in-law married years ago, yet it was we who first gave her parents the joy of grandchildren. Their daughter wished to live for herself a while longer, not yet ready for children of her own.
My husband’s parents adore our little ones, spoiling them with gifts now and then, doing all they can to keep them happy.
Still, my mother-in-law often says to me, “When will Lucy finally give us grandchildren? It would be lovely! She’s thirty now—high time she started thinking about it.”
Then came the long-awaited joy—Lucy was expecting. Everyone was delighted by the news, even my young daughter, who couldn’t wait to meet her little cousin.
But later, something happened that unsettled me deeply.
I took my son for a stroll in the park, where an acquaintance stopped me. After some small talk, she asked if Lucy had given birth yet. I told her it would be any day now.
Then she said, “And how do you feel about it? You do realise things will be different now, don’t you? Your in-laws will have a grandchild who’s truly ‘theirs’—a proper grandchild.”
Baffled, I asked, “What do you mean, ‘proper’?”
“Surely you see the difference,” she replied. “You gave your mother-in-law grandchildren, but now her own daughter is having a child.”
Her words struck me as absurd. Were grandchildren through a daughter more legitimate than those through a son? What nonsense!
I’ve no doubt our bond with my in-laws will remain unchanged after Lucy’s child is born. Yet that conversation left a bitter aftertaste.
Could it truly be that some grandmothers rank their grandchildren, weighing who bore them—son or daughter?
