Take my Mother-in-law...There's a reason there are so many bad jokes about mothers-in-law. You don't choose them, they just come along as emotional baggage with your object of affection. I'm lucky, my m-i-l is lovely*, but don't let that put you off telling us how mad your in-laws really are.
*No, really
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chthonic, Thu 8 Sep 2005, 9:48)
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Culture ClashMy parents had a few minor MIL issues, mostly related to culture and language. My father's mother, a traditional American Southwest Catholic, spoke Spanish most of her life, and was decidedly conservative - very conservative, in fact.
One day, my mother's brother and wife arrived from the American Midwest. In an effort to ingratiate himself with my father's mother, my mother's brother put his arm around her shoulders and proclaimed that they were all happy senior citizens, together, regardless of culture and language.
My father's mother understood this sudden, forced camaraderie to mean that they wanted her to join them in a menage a trois. One of the privileges of speaking Spanish is that you can tell English speakers exactly what you think of them, to their face, and suffer no consequences. I followed enough Spanish to understand that some of her recommendations were physically impossible to accomplish.
What I've wondered about all these years has been - maybe it wasn't a cultural misunderstanding at all, and maybe they really did want her to join in a little fun.
(, Fri 9 Sep 2005, 19:43, Reply)
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