What did we marry into??

I was asked this by a friend (who will also contribute to this blog) this morning.

I know for her...she didn't know the extent of her Monster-In-Law as it's progressed over the years, mine has just been batshit-crazy since my hubby and I started dating.

Before meeting any member of his family, he had to sit me down and tell me previous stories of his Mom....to 'warn' me...I didn't believe him, I mean, how can a MOTHER be this insanely horrible to her children? Surely, they were all making it up.

Here's some fun little tidbits that hubby told me before I met her...

- Hubby and his brother were dating sisters (awww, how convienent, right?)...Monster-In-Law gets them in the same room, sits them down and berates them while the guys are no where to be found...she then goes and hands Hubby a little slip of paper and tells him to keep this paper in his wallet for "protection" (more on that in a later blog), he forgets about it, is driving the girls home and unfolds it. One side is a passage from Corinthians (no biggie), on the other side is in her handwriting and it says, "I will never love anyone you bring home."

So you can see it was a big downhill slide after that happened.

Brother is still with the same girl...after 4.5 years with hubby, I havn't met her, she won't come out of the house when we go get Brother, she won't come out when Monster-In-Law won't be places, nothing. I'm starting to think she doesn't exist...

- After this story, I remember Hubby and I getting on the subject of how affectionate our parents are us, eachother, etc. He then tells me that he has never heard the words, "I love you," or "I'm proud of you," or any variation of...sad, really. It was an eye opening moment that people could even be like that to their children, and surely hubby must be making this up...so I asked Sister, same story. Brother, same story. Hmmm.

I had forgotten about this story until 2 years ago...my birthday rolls around (it's usually right before or on Thanksgiving), so we were over at the house for some reason and it was the day before my birthday. Monster-In-Law gives me a card. I'm shocked, for the two years before that I was hardly a blip on their radar, I didn't even think they knew when my birthday was...

I open the card...there's a 25.00 American Express gift card in there (and at this point, I'm so shocked I think I'm going to lose bodily functions), and it says, "Love you. Mommy & Papi" Ok...then I start thinking, "they meant this for Sister...it was her birthday just a couple of weeks ago." I look at the envelope. Nope. My name. Not hers...

I thank them, show Hubby the card and watch his expression melt from his normal happy-go-lucky to something between I've-just-been-punched-in-the-gut and my-dog-just-died. I frantically start to think, "Crap, what did I just do?" Sister notices her brother's expression and asks for the card...same thing happens when she reads it. Brother (now seeing this happen) reaches for it and chuckles. At this point, I'm thinking I'm the punchline of some damn joke again, and I can't figure out the punchline... I murmur to Hubby and he just says (very coldly), "We'll talk about it later." Great.

We pile into Hubby's truck (with Brother and Sister) and I said, "OK. What the hell just happened?" and Hubby looks at Sister (who's about to cry at this point) and says, "She's never, ever, told us that she loves us. Never."

"Pshaw! She has, you guys don't remember it..."
Sister: "Nope. Never. Ever. Spoken or written in a card."
Brother: "Yeah, here you are, dating him for 2 years and you get that..."

Ouch.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg...