I'm not sure which is better, to live a good 1500 miles from my immediate family, or to have been born the male of our species.
Case in point: my sister-in-law (wife's brother's wife) is with child. Yea, good for her and all that. Actually, they seem to be down for that sort of burden and if they have kids then hopefully the in-laws will not pressure us for any grandkids. My mother is bad enough, and by bad enough I mean she has mentioned it twice in the last decade.
This weekend is the baby shower, which is being put on by one of the expectant mother's sisters. Our Mother-in-Law is overly concerned about this event and has somehow managed to become more involved than she should be. On a recent dinner visit with the In-Laws, she was expressing her concern about how she deemed it improper that the shower was being held in my Sister-In-Law's home. Evidently this is some faux-paux. At this point it might be important to note that the mother-to-be was not born in this country and her very large family speaks English as a second language (and holds on to old family traditions I'm sure).
The MIL asks my wife's opinion, obviously hoping to vindicate her own sense of etiquette. Neither my wife or I really care. The mother-to-be is happy, someone else is doing the work....what is the problem here?
Carolyn gets her shower invitation the next week and she swears it is in her mother's handwriting.
Fast forward to tonight when Carolyn gets an odd call from her mother who is now concerned about having to provide a meal for all the guests. I can tell from my wife's side of the conversations she is being grilled about the propriety of providing food for all the guests. After the call, my wife tells me her mother asked "if you've seen anything for a meal?" I really wish I was part of that call because my immediate response was, "Last I checked, our society has evolved well past the hunter-gatherer stage. What did she expect, for you to point out a fruit or nut tree that was going to be ripe by this weekend?"
I'm glad I'm not expected to partake in a baby-shower. I'd probably just have gift-wrapped a coat hanger.
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