Before someone gets married, it’s common for their friends to advise taking a close look at their partner’s family and make sure that they’re OK with what they’re marrying into.
Because when their in-laws don’t respect their boundaries , they can often have some over-the-top and even frightening ways of showing it.
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And while we can sometimes see that a domineering parent’s child will stand up to them for their spouse’s sake, it’s sadly more common for them to either deny that anything is wrong or downplay the extent to which their parent crossed a line.
As we can see in today’s story, that makes it all the more difficult when a wronged spouse actually tries to enforce that boundary.
Before the incident we’re about to go over unfolded, a newly married couple had just bought their first house together.
And as the wife explained in a Reddit post , they were excited to decorate it together, but ran into a little problem when their new furniture arrived while the husband was away on business.
She considered this too big of a job to do on her own, so her mother-in-law offered to help and started while the wife was at her own job.
When she came home from work, however, she discovered that the mother-in-law had hung an array of framed pictures on one of the walls.
This came as a shock, but it wasn’t something the woman inherently minded as many of them simply depicted her husband at various stages in his life.
That is, until she noticed that the biggest one showed the husband and his ex-wife on their wedding day. Apparently, the mother-in-law has always adored this ex and invites her to family events and holidays, which has resulted in some friction between her and the woman.
When the woman lashed out and asked the mother-in-law what possessed her to do this, she replied “This is part of Derek’s life and you can not erase it.”
Understandably, the woman told her to leave and take the photo with her or she’d throw it out.
And while she did, the mother-in-law then sent the woman a series of texts calling her crazy, bitter, jealous, overbearing, and controlling.
In response, the woman said the mother-in-law’s actions disrespected her in her own home and banned her from the house as a result.
Although the husband agreed that what his mother did was wrong, he figured it was a matter of her somehow not knowing better and that banning her was a severe overreaction.
He also thought it was unfair of her to make this decision alone because the house belongs to both of them and he pressured her to cancel the ban.
When the woman asked Reddit if she was wrong to do this, most commenters sided with her, but figured she was in for a world of drama.
Because while they considered the mother-in-law’s actions obviously wrong and the ban appropriate, they didn’t find the husband’s reaction terribly encouraging.
As one user said , “MIL knew exactly what she was doing and now she is succeeding in driving a wedge between you and your husband. He should 100% have your back on this and his mother should apologise.”
Another agreed, saying , “Ask him if he plans to just let MIL drive you apart. I mean seriously, are you his partner or is he married to mommy?”
Some suggested hanging a picture of her ex up to see if he gets the message. But a lot more commenters figured that any solution to this problem had to come from some long conversations and possible couple’s therapy between the woman and her husband.
h/t: Reddit | alt_account_ad
