another mother in law post

I stood adjusting my Christmas party dress bodice in the mirror after fiddling with it on my dummy. I thought to myself "Hmm, I think I'll have to turn this into a princess seam" and that triggered a memory from that huge fight MIL and I had over the summer.

"Why, you were such a spoiled brat even your letter jacket said princess on it!" she screeched at me. I don't know how other letter jackets are, but the styles of the ones from my school had the last name emblazoned across the back, and most people put a nickname in small letters underneath it. I didn't really have a well known nickname and sure as hell wasn't going to put "Sugar Plum", my mom's diminuitive for me, on there.

I hung out with the stoner/misfit group at school. I wasn't a stoner or really even a misfit, unless you count that I didn't run with any popular crowds and wasn't very well known. I loved hanging out with the group because even though I wasn't just like them I felt accepted by them.

There was one boy in the group I used to walk to class with a lot. I never fancied him romantically, and I don't think he fancied me that way either, but I think he appreciated me talking to him as an equal, as he was very,very obese. While I never witnessed him being picked on, I'm sure he put up with plenty of it. I treated him the same as I'd want to be treated, and always greeted him with a big smile, and sometimes a hug. He was very sweet and dubbed me "princess". So, since that was the least dorky sounding name I could think of, that's what I had put on my jacket. This was before "princess" and "Hottie" became associated with Paris Hilton and moms dressing their daughters like cheap hookers.

I'm pretty sure Robert was the sort of person MIL wouldn't have openly taunted about his weight, lest she be branded a witch, but I'd bet Greg Louganis' gayness she'd have said plenty of mean things out of his earshot. That's how she operates. I'm really surprised she worked up the nerve to call me a brat to my face, but I think she did it because I was emotionally vulnerable and Jason wasn't there to defend me.

The whole situation with her makes me sad, and not just because I know I will never be truly favored in her eyes. Even though she's not the type of person I'd be friends with outside of family, she has her moments when she's happy and and tolerable to be around. She doesn't make any stabs at mine or Jason's parenting skills, appearance, lack of Catholicism, etc . But then it's as if she realizes she's not being bitter and gets mean again. I hope I never get like that.