Today’s cautionary tale: “This Is Why We Have a 1-Night Rule.”
We’ve been married 10 years. MIL has been spiraling the past 4 — grief, loneliness, age, and just… having a nightmare personality . Her house rules? Towels on all furniture “in case toys ruin it,” no leaning on chair arms, wash your dish before you’ve even swallowed. Oh, but she refuses to get a kitchen table — so we must eat on the holy living room furniture, then get screamed at if a molecule touches it. I made the mistake of letting my kid’s damp post-bath hair on a couch cushion and she had a full-blown sobbing meltdown.
So yeah, we imposed a 1-night limit on visits to preserve our sanity. But this time we broke it — 3 nights — for a kids’ event nearby.
Enter: Hell Week.
Heat wave. No A/C. Why? She hasnt changed her furnace filter in two years, it’s leaking, and the thermostat’s broken. We try to help — she tells us to “shut the f*ck up.”
She only feeds her dog chicken. And I kid you not bottled water. Husband suggests adding literally anything else for nutrition. Cue unhinged rage spiral “I know how to take care of a dog” Ok sure. Poor dog.
She finds a cup ring on her table (not even ours, I made the kids drink in the damn kitchen all weekend), and this woman screams, cries, and storms out of her house like she just caught us burning it down. Spoiler: the ring dried. The table was fine. She was not.
Never again. Not for 3 nights. Not for 2. Not even for one if I can help it. Next time? Hotel. Which she’ll also rage about because why wouldn’t we want to stay with her? But at least the towels will stay on the rack where they belong and they’ll have air conditioning
Cheers to boundaries and barely holding it together !
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This may be petty, but it might give you a smile: Get yourself one of those pop-up camping table and chair sets. The kind with the mesh cup holders. Any food, any drink – pop it open ‘so you won’t muss up her furniture’. You can even set up in the back yard if the weather’s good. Lean on the chair arms all you want. Maybe slip the dog some peas and carrots.
Then go and spend the night in the hotel.