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Story - A MIL Story
Oh, Kathy, that's a priceless story. Coming from a family who is truly manipulative
in a harmful way...I just loved this "innocence". What a wonderful sense of humor your MIL must have had. -- Jalynne - Keeper of the Quilt for ME club list Queen Gypsy (snail mail available upon request) see what i've been up to at www.100megsfree4.com/jalynne See what DH is up to at http://www.teamintraining.org/participant/kinney-162652 "Kathy N-V" wrote in message .com... After the funeral today, we were reminiscing about DH's mother, who passed away just over three years ago. Well, passed from our physical life. She's still here, as active as ever, trying very hard to run our lives, because not a day goes by without "A Granny Story" being told that happens to match up with a current situation. My MIL should have become a screen actress, so that the entire world could benefit from her often repeated performances. When DH and I were dating, I'd often come to his home in the middle of some horrible, explosive, emotional conflict. Coming from a family where such things were not expressed openly, I was horrified, and usually left the premises as quickly as possible. I could never understand why DH told me that these fights were totally harmless, and to please trust him and sit threre through one. So I did. I was slack jawed afterward. A minor difference of opinion turned into an all out screamathon, with mother sobbing into her hands, sons punching the door frames in anger, people stalking off dramatically, and general chaos. I was deeply frightened - I had never seen anything remotely like this. It was like an episode of "The Bickersons, Italian Style" beamed right into the room with me. Then, *snap*, it as over. Someone asked someone else for the cheese, dinner resumed and peace was restored. I was more than a little confused for quite a while, and then simply accepted it as my own private Cinema Verite'. After a while, I noticed one of the principal players was yanking my chain, and more importantly, the chains of all the other players. You see, at the outset of every one of these shouting matches, my mother in law would retreive a white lacy handkerchief from her pocket and start blubbing loudly into it. Fascinated that anyone could turn on such a crying waterfall at will, I paid attention to my MIL, and ignored DH, his brothers and FIL. Remarkably, the sudden flood of tears ended the entire disagreement, with all four men trying piteously to make "Mama feel better." She waved them all away, and continued to sob for effect into the handkerchief. The men all skulked away, beaten and defeated that they had broken Mama's heart. (In the meantime, I'm sitting silent and unnoticed in a corner of the kitchen, in the best seats in the house for this performance) The kitchen was quiet except for the pathetic sobs, which came as less frequent intervals. My mother in law peeked over the top of her handkerchief to see if the coast was clear. Perfectly dry eyes met my amused ones and we both nodded to one another. We never spoke of it, but she never, ever tried the crying act on me, because I would have given her a big pinch, and she knew it. I was telling this story to the only son of my friend who passed away this weekend. Like everyone else, he laughed. Ooops, not quite everyone else - my own DH looked like someone had punched him in the stomach. The moment we got home, I peppered with questions: Was this story true, and had his mother been manipulating him, his brothers and father all those years? My answer of "what do you think?" had him put his head in his hands and laugh ruefully. His next question of "Why didn't you tell me?" was a little less easy to explain. My take on this was that this whole family had been behaving like this for umpteen years (I understand that my MIL's parents and grandparents were all in on the act while they were alive, too). My MIL was very short, and no match for four men. She probably thought of this as her "secret weapon." It's okay Granny, we are all still laughing about it, and it doesn't make the memory of her any less sweet. Kathy N-V, who was blessed with terrific in-laws |
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I love that. You should put all of these in a book. I would definitely buy
it. Or at least journal them for your family (if you haven't already) -- Debbie (New Mexico) Life is too short "Kathy N-V" wrote in message .com... After the funeral today, we were reminiscing about DH's mother, who passed away just over three years ago. Well, passed from our physical life. She's still here, as active as ever, trying very hard to run our lives, because not a day goes by without "A Granny Story" being told that happens to match up with a current situation. My MIL should have become a screen actress, so that the entire world could benefit from her often repeated performances. When DH and I were dating, I'd often come to his home in the middle of some horrible, explosive, emotional conflict. Coming from a family where such things were not expressed openly, I was horrified, and usually left the premises as quickly as possible. I could never understand why DH told me that these fights were totally harmless, and to please trust him and sit threre through one. So I did. I was slack jawed afterward. A minor difference of opinion turned into an all out screamathon, with mother sobbing into her hands, sons punching the door frames in anger, people stalking off dramatically, and general chaos. I was deeply frightened - I had never seen anything remotely like this. It was like an episode of "The Bickersons, Italian Style" beamed right into the room with me. Then, *snap*, it as over. Someone asked someone else for the cheese, dinner resumed and peace was restored. I was more than a little confused for quite a while, and then simply accepted it as my own private Cinema Verite'. After a while, I noticed one of the principal players was yanking my chain, and more importantly, the chains of all the other players. You see, at the outset of every one of these shouting matches, my mother in law would retreive a white lacy handkerchief from her pocket and start blubbing loudly into it. Fascinated that anyone could turn on such a crying waterfall at will, I paid attention to my MIL, and ignored DH, his brothers and FIL. Remarkably, the sudden flood of tears ended the entire disagreement, with all four men trying piteously to make "Mama feel better." She waved them all away, and continued to sob for effect into the handkerchief. The men all skulked away, beaten and defeated that they had broken Mama's heart. (In the meantime, I'm sitting silent and unnoticed in a corner of the kitchen, in the best seats in the house for this performance) The kitchen was quiet except for the pathetic sobs, which came as less frequent intervals. My mother in law peeked over the top of her handkerchief to see if the coast was clear. Perfectly dry eyes met my amused ones and we both nodded to one another. We never spoke of it, but she never, ever tried the crying act on me, because I would have given her a big pinch, and she knew it. I was telling this story to the only son of my friend who passed away this weekend. Like everyone else, he laughed. Ooops, not quite everyone else - my own DH looked like someone had punched him in the stomach. The moment we got home, I peppered with questions: Was this story true, and had his mother been manipulating him, his brothers and father all those years? My answer of "what do you think?" had him put his head in his hands and laugh ruefully. His next question of "Why didn't you tell me?" was a little less easy to explain. My take on this was that this whole family had been behaving like this for umpteen years (I understand that my MIL's parents and grandparents were all in on the act while they were alive, too). My MIL was very short, and no match for four men. She probably thought of this as her "secret weapon." It's okay Granny, we are all still laughing about it, and it doesn't make the memory of her any less sweet. Kathy N-V, who was blessed with terrific in-laws --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.593 / Virus Database: 376 - Release Date: 2/22/2004 |
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