PM Thread #3

[Can it work]

PM, thanks for your kind words on my new thread. Your sitch with your MIL sounds so similar to mine that it's just a bit scary. My W and I went to dinner at the IL's last night since my W's brother was visiting for New Year and they're away today. My MIL actually called me through the day when my W was out to make sure I'd still be ok to do it. During the dinner I put on my happy face as much as was possible and it went fine. After dinner MIL and I had a couple of opportunities to escape for a 'chat' (I was never going to admit it here but the stress of the last few months has seen me restart smoking. I'd stopped for 18 months! I'm not proud of it and hope to stop again soon but no matter what anyone says, it does calm stress.) in the garage. She's of the opinion now though that she's going to keep out of it more than her and FIL did last time. She still seems supportive of me though and tells me that no matter what happens my IL's will still see me as a son in law and love me. That nearly brought a tear to the eye I can tell you.

Anyway PM, the point of this post is to tell you that I think in my sitch, talking to my MIL has helped greatly (my W isn't the most communicative person in the world when she's in a mood!) for us both to try and understand what's going on. She's also been critical of changes she's seen in me so I can assure you it's not all aimed at my W. I still feel better for talking to her though. Many people will disagree about talking to your spouse's family but only you can know if it's the right thing to do in your R. Everyone's different.