How My Sons Mother-in-Law Took Him From Us
Ever since our son got married, hes hardly visited us. Hes always round his mother-in-laws, apparently. Theres constantly some sort of urgent help she needs from him. I really dont know how she managed before her daughter married our son.
Our sons been married for just over two years now. After the wedding, they moved out into a flat that wed bought for him when he started university. Since he was young, weve always supported him and tried to understand him. Even before he was married, he lived on his own in that flat, which was close to his work.
I wont pretend that I didnt have my doubts about his wife at first. I just thought she seemed a bit too young for proper married life, even though shes only two years younger than our son. She often acted a bit childish, if Im honest, sometimes even a little spoilt. Our son, though, has always been such a thoughtful boy, and I kept worrying about how hed cope with a wife who acted like a child half the time.
After I met her and her mother, I realised what I was dealing with. Even though her mother-in-law is my age, she acts like a big kid herself. You know the typesome people never quite grow up, even in their fifties. It all seemed friendly enough on the surface; her mothers been divorced six times, as it happens, but we never really had anything in common so we just politely congratulated each other at the wedding and left it at that.
Before the wedding, the warning signs were already there, reallymy sons wife would always drag him to her mums for some emergency or another. Leaky taps, sockets that needed replacing, a shelf coming loose in the kitchen. At first, I shrugged it offif there isnt a man in the house, I suppose a bit of help doesnt go amiss.
But it carried on, and the list of breakdowns at his mother-in-laws never seemed to get any shorter. All of a sudden, our son was so busy with his wife and her family that we barely saw him. Eventually, they started spending every single holiday at her mothers house, leaving me, my father, and my mother-in-law alone for the festivities.
If it was just the family occasions he missed, maybe I could have lived with that. But he also started ignoring us when we needed help.
For example, when we bought a new fridge freezer, I asked my son to help us get it in the house. He agreed at first, but then rang to say he couldnt make it because he and his wife were off to her mumsher washing machine was leaking, so naturally, he had to sort it out.
My husband rang him, and I could hear his wife in the background, saying, Couldnt your parents just hire some removal men? When our son did turn up, he was furious.
Dad, couldnt you have called the professionals? Now Ive got to lug this in myself!
I lost my temper then. Why didnt his mother-in-law just get a repairman herself? Does she live in some alternate universe without plumbers and electricians? My son said she needed help because nowadays you can get ripped off so easily, mumtheyll take your money and not fix a thing.
That set my husband off. He snapped that, maybe she didnt know much about appliances, but she clearly knew how to lead one sheepmeaning our sonright where she wanted. That was it. Our son stormed out. I didnt get involved, though I honestly agreed with my husband. It was obvious to both of us his wifes family was taking advantage. He was their handyman nowand to us, he simply didnt have the time.
After that row, my son hasnt spoken to his father for more than a fortnight. My husbands refusing to make the first move, and my son is just as stubborn, insisting he wont speak to his dad unless he gets an apology. I feel torn in the middle. On one hand, my husband was right, but he could have been gentler. Now our sons cross, refusing to see his dad, and I cant bear the thought of losing him over something so silly.
So father and son are at a standstill, and the only person coming out on top in all this is my sons mother-in-law!
