Some in-laws know how to keep distance and never interfere between their child and their spouse, but there are also those who want to have a say in each decision the couple makes. Sadly, it can negatively affect the emotional connections the partners share. Just like that of the husband and the wife from this story.
One mother wrote a letter to Slate describing what her mother-in-law did while she was recovering from giving birth to her son via c-section.
She started her letter by explaining how her husband’s mother has never been fond of her and has always been a manipulator. One good thing was that she and her husband lived states away from her husband’s family, but that didn’t prevent her mother-in-law to find a way to interfere whenever possible.
When she heard the news that her son and her daughter-in-law were expecting a baby, the mother-in-law was over the moon. But soon after, she started asking questions about the baby’s name. The couple told her how they have already decided on the name, but she insisted she didn’t like what they had in mind naming their bundle of joy and said how she had a better name.
As the woman sharing this story put her mother-in-law in her place and told her how the conversation about the baby’s name was a done deal, the mother-in-law though she could persuade her son to listen to her, but once he turned her name offers down himself, she stopped arguing.
When the day they were all eagerly waiting for finally came, the mom gave birth via c-section and was way too tired to deal with paper work so she let her husband deal with it. The mother-in-law, however, saw it as a chance to make her son change the baby’s name.
He didn’t want to listen to his mom at first, but she was persistent, so the new father agreed on a compromise.
He kept the first name of the baby to what his wife wanted, but changed the middle name from “Finley” to “Finlay.”
Once the “damage was done,” the husband realized his wife would be mad at him for listening to his mother, so he decided not to tell her anything about what happened.
A couple of months later, the mother-in-law sent the baby a gift which was addressed to Finlay. The mother knew something was wrong so she went on and checked the baby’s Social Security Number. To her surprise (or not) her son’s middle name was in fact Finlay.
After she confronted her husband, he said how his mother managed to guilt-trip him.
At the end, this woman forgave her husband, but she couldn’t forgive her mother-in-law.
The advice she got after sending the letter? That she’s too kind for her husband and his family and that she should have asked for a divorce.
Well, despite what the husband and his mother did, we believe divorce shouldn’t be an option.
What about you? How would you react if you were in this woman’s place?