A lot have been said and written about the mother-in-law. But what about her other half? The father-in law. Is he always the happy grandfather that loves to dress up as Santa to entertain the grand kids, or.....
Me and my husband were recently at a party. The couple that invited us are quite older than us and there we met the hostess's brother. A 67 year old retired restaurant owner. At first he seemed like a quite, polite,regular kind of guy. We all sat at the living room just chatting and he slowly started to change.
Every time one person would offer his opinion about the topic in discussion [it didn't matter what that was] he was always the one to contradict it, and not only that, he had to make everyone else agree with him that his opinion was the correct one, or else 3 days later we would still be there.
On the way home, my husband and I ,instead of enjoying the ride alone, all we did was talk about the previously mentioned gentleman.A 30-minute drive was dedicated to him, and a lot more time since that day also. Probably the rest of the party did the same thing.
Since that day I couldn't stop wondering , what if we were related? what if he was my father, or worse my father-in-law. My husband's father died when my husband was only 2 years old, so I never experienced that kind of a relationship, but I come from a family where in-laws are treated with great respect and patience. So I would have to put up with that kind of attitude for ever, if the fates wanted a good laugh and I had married his son? Knowing me I seriously doubt it. If that had happened I would be typing on my 1 hour break, from a women's correctional facility, because I would have strangled him.
I saw my friend today, the hostess of the party, and during the conversation i couldn't help but ask how her brother was doing. Well it is a good thing my husband was picking up our daughter because , I never would have made it in time.
Once she started she wouldn't stop.The problem list was over a mile long. His children,1 son and 2 daughters, and their spouses all have problems with him. The oldest daughter and her husband want almost nothing to do with him. When they got married he gave them as a present one of his 3 restaurants,no strings attached, or so they thought. But 11 years since then even if they wish to change the light-bulbs he has to pick the brand, so they are not too friendly with him lately."what took them so long " I was wondering, while I was nodding my head at every word she was uttering.
Needless to say that the other 2 kids have problems with their father as well. They are lawyers, but according to daddy dearest,not very good. They don't make enough money, they don't have important clients" They probably don't even comp their hair right according to him" I thought.
His poor sister left, feeling bad for her brother ,being treated unfairly by his children and all, and I couldn't help but wonder "Would she feel the same if she was one of the children, or even worse, one of the spouses?"
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