Any marriage is, to some extent, a clash of two worlds, two world orders accepted in different families. And the future of the new family depends largely on how peacefully and seamlessly this process is conducted. Essentially, it depends on the spouses' relationship with their in-laws.
Often, the "weak link" in this process is the mother-in-law, who has a difficult time separating from her adult son. But in the story we'll tell you today, from the user u/NoDrummer7092, the author clearly got lucky with her MIL. It turns out the sister-in-law was just ready to stab her in the back. However, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
More info: Reddit
Having your mother-in-law in your corner in a marriage is incredibly great, but sometimes, the sister-in-law can produce tons of issues as well
Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author of the post has been married to her husband for two years, and he started dating her after being rejected by his longtime ex-girlfriend
Image credits: NoDrummer7092
Image credits: EyeEm / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The couple showed up at the husband's mom's birthday party recently, and the author was shocked to see the spouse's ex there too
Image credits: NoDrummer7092
Image credits: Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
Moreover, in her table speech, the sister-in-law dubbed the lady "mom's true DIL," thus overwhelming the author completely
Image credits: NoDrummer7092
Image credits: Blake Cheek / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The situation escalated after the ex attempted to kiss the author's husband, supported by his sister
Image credits: NoDrummer7092
The woman stormed out and left home, but it turned out not to be the last attempt to drive a wedge in her marriage
So, the Original Poster (OP) has been married to her husband for two years. He started dating her after his ex, the sister's longtime bestie, rejected his proposal. That lady said she wasn't ready for marriage, so the man fulfilled his desire to start a family with the author. They are happily married, but a recent situation at the MIL's house nearly ruined their happiness.
When the couple arrived at the husband's mom's birthday party, his ex-girlfriend, invited by the author's SIL, was already there. Moreover, during her dinner speech, the sister-in-law dubbed the ex "the true mom’s daughter-in-law." When our heroine, outraged by these words, left the room, the MIL hurried after her to apologize for the daughter's behavior.
However, when the women returned to the table, another unpleasant surprise awaited them: the SIL literally forced her friend to kiss her brother. This was too much for the original poster to bear, so she stormed out and went home. A few minutes later, the husband left with her, and they had a very unpleasant conversation at home.
The man defended himself by saying that the situation was even stranger to him than to his wife, and she believed him. The mother-in-law deserves credit - unlike many similar stories, there she was a paragon of common sense, fully siding with our heroine in her conflict with her daughter. However, the bosom buddies didn't let up...
The next day, when the man went to the gym, they both showed up on the OP's porch and began assuring her that he was secretly cheating on her with his ex. They tried to show some texts on their phone, but the author didn't give in to the provocation.
She just called her spouse, then asked him to come back urgently, and the two couldn't withstand a confrontation with him. They both fled in disgrace, only strengthening the original poster’s conviction that it was all nothing more than an attempt to drive a wedge between her and her loving husband.
Image credits: Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
“It's obvious that in this case, the sister decided that a long-standing friendship was more important to her than her brother's marital happiness - and decided to try to destroy it for the sake of a possible ‘even greater happiness’ with her friend,” says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment here. “Everything that happened seems like part of a single plan.”
According to the expert, the SIL’s provocative speech at the dinner table, the very fact of inviting that woman to a family gathering, and especially the attempt to force her to kiss her brother, all constitute a consistent chain of manipulations designed to destroy this marriage. For what purpose? “For the sake of a selfish desire to see them together again,” Irina Matveeva responds.
"What makes me incredibly happy about this story is the behavior of the mother-in-law, who defied many common stereotypes and defended her son's marital happiness. Unfortunately, such behavior from mothers of married men is quite rare nowadays," Irina summarizes.
People in the comments also expressed delight that the author and her spouse managed to endure this difficult ordeal, and that the mother-in-law was actually in her corner. "You two are the reason why the other 50% of marriages are happy and survive. I'm glad you have a supportive MIL," one responder concluded wisely. So what do you, our dear readers, think of this story?
Most commenters were glad that the home-wrecker's attempt was fruitless, and that the mother-in-law actually showed common sense, too
