Now don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t annoying me because I was a mean mother-in-law (MIL) who hated her. But because of her selfish question. It seemed I was expected to always be around. “I am going on a vacation to the Bahamas. I already bought the tickets and booked myself at a lovely hotel.”
My son and DIL exchanged surprised looks before staring at me as if I’d grown a second head. “This is so unlike you, mom. Who are you going with?” I rolled my eyes at George’s response. He’d somehow forgotten that before he had kids, I was jetsetting every few months!
“That’s not true my love. I used to travel all the time when my time was mine,” I replied a bit irritated. I couldn’t believe how clueless he’d become when it came to my life. “Well, where are we going to get someone to babysit the kids for free every day?”
I realized at that moment that I’d spoiled these two. “Your parents are a start, Sarah. Arrange play dates with your friends’ children or something, I don’t know,” I said in frustration. Why was I the one who had to figure out what THEY did with their own children?
It dawned on me how much I had made them dependent on me. It wasn’t my intention, I think I took the Gam-Gam role a bit too far, and I so loved my little munchkins! They gave me so much to live for. But I was tired and needed a break.
Without waiting for their response, which I anticipated would make me angry, I turned to leave. “I will send you the details of when I leave, where I’ll be staying, and when I’ll return. Toodles!” I heard them falling over themselves as they tried to catch up to my quick stride.
They were LITERALLY trying to get ME to tell THEM what to do with their children! But I was having none of it and quickly closed the door before rushing to my car and driving away. Yes, I felt like I was escaping and running away from my responsibilities and I HATED that feeling!
When I arrived home, my DIL had left several voice messages that I had no intention of listening to. My therapist was the one who made me realize I was overworked and needed some time off. I was oblivious to that as I continued stretching myself to my limits.
She, my therapist, knocked it into my head that I was overcompensating by trying to be the best MIL and grandmother while losing myself. I stuck to my promise and sent George and Sarah all the details of my travels as a courtesy.
The next few weeks were filled with Sarah trying to convince me to leave with the kids. When she wasn’t trying to do that, she tried to get me to stay and not leave. “I need to do this for ME, Sarah. You won’t understand,” I explained, trying to get her off my back.
If my DIL wasn’t the one pestering me, my son got in on it. But with the words of my therapist playing in my head, “Stick to your guns. You are doing this for YOUR well-being,” I remained resolute in my decision.
When the fateful day came, I announced my departure to my son and left. For two glorious days on vacation, I had nothing but massages, long beach walks, drank piña coladas, and enjoyed the sunsets!
On the third day, my mood was spoiled when I suddenly received a disturbing message from my DIL. “George is on his business trip, my parents have house repairs, and I’m going on MY retreat,” her text began.
“And you know what? It’s in the Bahamas!! Isn’t it amazing? We’re already boarding, I need you to watch the kiddos!” Annoyed is an understatement for what I was feeling! I couldn’t understand, so HER parents have repairs, and I have a vacation, so I can babysit the kids?!
I was MAD AS HELL! I was practically seething! This time I leaned on my own faculties and decided to teach her a lesson on mutual respect. When they pitched, I was my usual affectionate self to my grandbabies and hugged and kissed them.
I then spent an hour bonding with the pair while Sarah mumbled about how SHE had to MEDITATE tomorrow. But the next day, I got an irritated call from her. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? WHERE ARE YOU?!” she had the nerve to demand.
All calm and relaxed as I had anticipated that type of response, I answered, “I’m at the spa, getting a massage. Why do you ask?” Sounding more frustrated, my DIL replied, “Why would you not answer your phone?!”
“The kids have been driving ME crazy, and I need a break!” I had finally had enough of her nonsense and took a deep breath before responding. “I hear you talking about what YOU need and want, but have you asked ME what my plans are?”
“Has it even occurred to YOU to find out if I WANT to babysit during MY vacation and time away?” I heard her gasp as she tried cutting in all respectful this time, saying, “Mrs. Thomas, I…” But I cut her off and continued my rant.
“Do you know what I am doing here, huh? Do you even CARE?” My voice went up a notch. “You receive what you deserve, Sarah. And maybe it’s time for YOU and George to learn a lesson about respect!”
My DIL was stunned into silence. She realized for the first time in two years the depth of her imposition. Her voice had softened as she stammered, “I… I didn’t think… I just assumed…”
I wasn’t done with her as I replied, “That’s exactly the problem we have, you assumed and KEEP assuming. I love my grandkids, but I also NEED my own time.”
“This was MY vacation. It’s time I took off so I can recuperate and have some self-care.” I could hear from the silence on the other side that Sarah was feeling guilty. She was FINALLY understanding where I was coming from.
“I’ve given you and Georgie two long years of my love and dedication.” I shared how I’d stretched myself because I wanted to be a good MIL and grandmother. I also wanted to be there for them as they transitioned into parenthood.
But then I went too far as they kept demanding more and more of my time. I confessed to my DIL that I started feeling burnt out. Yet, because I hadn’t felt the feeling before, I didn’t realize what was happening to me.
A friend I confided in suggested I see her therapist. That’s when it finally clicked that I was wearing myself thin. I was quite upset as I ended my rant by stating, “Next time, respect MY plans and ask, don’t just assume I’m here to serve your convenience!”
Sarah paused for a long time on the other end of the line and I was about to say something when she finally sighed. It appeared she finally understood the weight of my words and where I was coming from.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I should have asked. I’ll make other arrangements,” my DIL replied, sounding defeated. I won’t lie, I felt a tinge of regret for how I approached things, but decided it was something that had to be done.
After all, as they say, people treat the way you teach them to. I thanked her for understanding. “Now, I’m going to enjoy the rest of my vacation. I suggest you find a way to enjoy yours too, without relying on me.”
I didn’t wait for a response before hanging up and felt the most serene wave of satisfaction! I had stood up for myself and drew boundaries that taught my DIL a valuable life lesson! I happily returned to my massage, content that I would not be disturbed anymore.
I felt the stress melt away from my body as the masseuse kneaded longstanding knots that had built up over the years. I was pleased to know that I had managed to reclaim my well-deserved break.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Thomas isn’t the only person who’s had to take measures to teach people important lessons. Mark’s mother kept nagging his pregnant wife to the point that the younger woman had to leave. Not wanting his mother to miss her mistake, Mark found a clever way to teach the parent about respect and boundaries.
My MIL Accused Me of Cheating — I Did a DNA Test and Accidentally Exposed Her Secret
Accusing someone of cheating is a big deal and can really damage trust between partners. A woman got accused of cheating because her baby had an unusual eye color — she decided to take a DNA test to prove she was faithful, but what she discovered was totally unexpected.
They discovered a family secret that had been buried in the past.
So, this 25-year-old woman recently had a baby girl, and she noticed something interesting about her daughter’s appearance. «Our daughter has green eyes, unlike everyone else in our families My MIL thinks I cheated,» she wrote. Her husband reassured her, saying it was probably just random genetic things.
This lady’s husband totally trusts her, which is awesome. But his mom and the rest of the family won’t stop going on about their daughter’s green eyes, suggesting she might have cheated. Even her own family is a bit puzzled by it. She got tired of all the gossip and decided to settle it once and for all with a paternity test.
They decided to do two tests: one to check paternity and another to explore their daughter’s ancestry. The mom was curious to see if there might be a distant relative they didn’t know about who could explain their daughter’s unusual eye color.
After much insistence, the husband finally agreed to the tests, and it turns out the little one is indeed his daughter. But here’s the twist — his dad isn’t really his biological father! Now, they’re both thinking about confronting the mom about it, but the wife’s urging caution. She thinks they should take some time to process this bombshell before they make any moves.
They know they should tell the husband’s dad about the DNA test results, but they’re worried about the consequences. They’re exhausted from looking after their newborn, and this news has hit them hard. They’re scared that revealing the truth might cause a huge family drama and even lead to his parents splitting up. It’s a tough situation, and they’re both feeling guilty about how things turned out.
People online were equally shocked by what happened.
- «Another possibility is that the MIL and FIL did in-vitro with a sperm donor and never told their son. The son should have a DNA test as well. This will clear up any of the scenarios, i.e. MIL had an affair, son was switched at birth, sperm donor, etc.» shbrinnnn / Reddit
- «There is a small chance the husband isn’t related to MIL either, though. As in, switched at birth or secretly adopted.» Gaosnl / Reddit
- «I don’t understand why you all are so worked up about the eye color in a 2-month-old. My son had green to hazel eyes until he was almost 2. They finished at about a hazel-leaning brown. Both my husband and I have brown eyes. We never thought anything of it.
Like, if you wanted to do a test just to find your genetic lines or whatever, that might be interesting. But focusing on your husband, cheating and this eye color is just beyond bizarre to me. Anyone who insinuated I might have cheated would get shut down immediately. Maybe your focus should be on laying down clear boundaries with both your families, instead of worrying about jumping through ridiculous hoops to appease them.» KickIt77 / Reddit - «Green eyes are a genetic mutation, they can occur randomly in any family even those without a history of green eyes. In any race. It is just a lucky happenstance that your child got an eye color gene mutation which led to you wanting the test.» Childhood-trauma-87 / Reddit
- «One of my friends did an ancestry test with her sisters, she already knew that her father was a different person than her sisters’. There’s a big age gap, her mom and her sisters’ fathers were not together, and she looks exactly like her dad.
One thing that surprised them was that supposedly her 2 older sisters had different fathers as well. Well… turns out not so much. They were full sisters, not half-sisters as they thought, so at some point, her mother had had an affair.
I don’t know enough to say if she cheated on the first guy with the second and had his kid, then got together with him and had another, or if she had the first guy have a kid, broke up, then she cheated on the new guy with her old ex. Either way, surprise full siblings, and someone, at least one of them, always thought they had a different dad.» scarletnightingale / Reddit - «Who needs to track down the exact person in the family tree that had green eyes? Three of my aunt’s 4 kids have brown eyes and one has blue eyes. Most people would just think, „Wow, genetics are wild!“ Also, why would you get a paternity test if you know you didn’t cheat?» EmmalouEsq / Reddit
- «Whether it was cheating or something else, the fact remains that your MIL kept this from her son for his entire life, and he’s rightfully unhappy about it. Still, you’re making the right call by telling him to wait, and you wouldn’t have found out, to begin with, if it weren’t for his family badgering you over your daughter’s eye color.» Jiang_Rui / Reddit
- «It sounds like MIL was projecting with her passive-aggressive commentary. What did she think would happen? Of course, you’d want to prove to her family that you didn’t cheat. This is her own fault.» fitheferal / Reddit
Check out a story from a mother-in-law who recently met her son’s girlfriend and uncovered something shocking about her. Now, she’s unsure about how to handle this newfound information.
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