© 2024 Interlochen
CLASSICAL IPR | 88.7 FM Interlochen | 94.7 FM Traverse City | 88.5 FM Mackinaw City IPR NEWS | 91.5 FM Traverse City | 90.1 FM Harbor Springs/Petoskey | 89.7 FM Manistee/Ludington
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Essay: Mothers-in-Law

Mothers-in-Law

A mother-in-law can be a gift or a burden—or both.  Sometimes these women get a bad rap for being interfering or for setting impossibly high standards.  But I was blessed with two mothers-in-law who never interfered and set wonderfully low standards.

 

Phyllis was my first mother-in-law and in the process of raising four sons, she’d given up on neatness which was a relief to me.  Further, she hated to cook and was happy with hamburgers in the frying pan and vegetables out of a can.  So, when Phyllis came to visit, I never had to worry much about cleaning my house or fixing fancy food.  For breakfast, she had an apple with peanut butter—and a pot of coffee.  No variations.

When I met my second mother-in-law, Betty was trying to identify a yellow daisy.  She nodded at me and went back to her book of wildflowers.  Preferring to be outdoors, Betty didn’t worry much about the indoors.  Her real interest was beetles—which had been the focus of her master’s degree.

Looking back, I regret that I never thanked my two mothers-in-law for making my life easier, but I used their examples when I became one myself.  Available as needed but not omnipresent.  It’s harder than it looks.