Daughter- In- Law Vs Mother- In- Law

This letter is one of the most beautiful pieces I have ever read. I am sharing this in instalments as everyone is busy and it makes sense to give the contents in doses like anodyne rather than flood you with it.

So here I go with the excerpt of the letter:

For the first time in my life, I feel alone. A part of me does. That part belonged to the children. There’s a saying that goes: “ Sometimes when God wants to punish you, He answers your prayers.” How very true. I prayed for the children to find mates who would fill them completely and they did. I am no more Numero Uno with them. They are busy in their own lives.

As for my daughter in law, I’ve managed to get nowhere with her, talk about opposites! Ha! There I am chattering like a monkey, a mile a minute, and there she is sitting very quietly and smiling sedately. She could be thinking anything. It could be: “ stop your cackling, you old witch!” or it could be “ what you’re saying makes a lot of sense, you smart bitch!” She gives the words ‘reserved’ and ‘serenity’ entirely new dimensions.

When I rib Francis about whether his Eve and he talk at all,” Mother dear”, he guffaws, “ actions speak louder than words.” No wonder he took so long finding Miss Right. He was looking for a woman who is the exact antithesis of his beloved mother. Who says this mother-in-law ‘tug-o-war’ starts the day a son marries? Oh no! It starts the day he is born. Because the whole bloody business is one sided.

Why does one poor woman have to go through the pangs of having to give birth to the son-of-a-bitch, do the dirty work of having to change nappies, wash his bloody bottom, wipe his runny nose, hold his hand while he learns to walk, kiss his tear stained face when he falls, tear half her hair out trying to discipline him when a little brat lose the other half locking horns with him as a teenager and then just when she’s made a man of him, have to hand him over on a silver platter to this strange woman who appears out of nowhere and who in spite of not having lifted a bloody finger to raise him, has him eating out of the palm of her hand at the crook of her little finger?

You call that fair? The new girl gets the best of the both worlds – him and his! Let all mothers be cautioned that they stand no chance against that very special brand of ‘black’ magic the daughter-in-law uses.

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did.

Contents reproduced by Rekkha -24/11/2018