B and I just arrived at his parents' for the weekend. Having driven through dinner time, my mil offered us something light to eat. I had some ratatouille while B ate a yogurt (he wasn't as hungry as me). Then I had a bit of cheese and a nectarine. Once I had finished my piece of fruit, there was a classic mil moment.
"Minou, tu veux pas un fruit?" (Sweatheart [B's mom calling him], don't you want a piece of fruit?)
"Non maman." (No thanks Mom)
"Mais si t'en veut!" (Of course you do!)
"Eh bein si tu m'impose aussi gentillement, je peux pas refuser." (If you force me so nicely, I can't say no)
"Mais il faut bien manger des fruits! Manges-en!" (But you have to eat some fruit! Have some!)
Fned wrote about mothers-in-law recently, and while my in-laws are really nice and my mil buys me t-shirts at Cache-Cache, it's moments like these that are funny when they happen to my husband, but infuriating when they happen to me. I think part of not getting alone with mil's is also about not having grown up and gotten use to her. When my mom talks about tatooed people (My goodness, did you see how big it is? It's so stupid to get a tatoo!) or poor quality items (Must have been made in Mexico) I just roll my eyes and think "Oh Mom...." I've heard her pronounce quesadilla "kass-ah-dee-ya" for 20 years now, so I'm use to it. B has much of the same reaction with his mom and says that growing up with his mom forced him to make up his mind and stick to it because otherwise he ended up only doing what his mom liked. What seems like a back-handed insult to me (Do you want to rent the audio guide? They're a waste of money, but if you want to, go ahead) is just Mom being Mom for my husband and he almost doesn't pay attention to it anymore (whereas I get hot under the collar).
There's a play coming to Toulouse next year that deals with this in a certain way. When I added this exerpt to the website, I decided I had to see the play next year. I think the author met my mil before writing the play. That, or else mothers all over the world have something in common.
1 comment:
I love hearing Ben's mom say things and then hearing him parrot them a few days later. I've taken to asking him, do you really think that, or you just said it because your mom did? If he really thinks it, it's fine, and she is right most of the time, but she just makes my American rebellious streak come out in force sometimes, lol.
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