The dreaded in-laws

I had lunch with a friend I haven't seen since I moved today, and she was complaining about her crazy in-laws. It prompted me to get around to writing this post about my own in-laws.

I'm pretty lucky. From the moment I met them at Thanksgiving three years ago, 6 months into our relationship, they welcomed me into the fold. Literally, plenty of hugs from the get-go. We stayed with M's dad, as did his paternal grandparents, aunt and uncle, and brother and sister-in-law. His grandmother was suffering from Alzheimer's, and the family was afraid this would be her last holiday season (and they were right). When we left, she said she couldn't remember my name, but she knew I was nice to her. As we drove away, his dad joked that they'd be sure to take a vote on me that afternoon. Next time M and his dad talked, M was informed that they voted for him to keep me.

His dad and aunt were particuarly welcoming, and have been ever since. I think his dad already loved me just because I went to law school at Alabama, since he spent a lot of his youth there himself. That, and my love of football won me major points. His dad is the type of person who is friendly to everyone, easy to like. M's aunt and uncle are pretty much the same way.

M's mom is a little more reserved, but still easy to get along with. M always says that despite being very religious, she's non-judgmental, and that seems to be true. She may not have expected to get a liberal half-Jew as a daughter in law, and I know there's spots where our point of view differs, but it's not an issue. I think she ultimately just cares that I love her son.

M's brother may be the most reserved of the bunch. We didn't talk much outside of playing poker that first weekend. It's easier now that I've spent more time with them. His wife is very easy to talk to. We've stayed up to ridiculous hours talking when I visit.

I've visited with both his parents and M's brother's family when M wasn't with me. M's sister-in-law and I communicate a lot on FB, and his mother emails me and I talk to both parents on the phone often, probably more than M does. I'm their best source of information on what M is up to :) Their family is very different than mine; mine are a lot slower to open up. Maybe it's different because people try to protect daughter's more, or maybe it's because they've only ever liked one boyfriend of mine (who promptly dumped me) before M. I tend to vent to my dad too much, which is stupid of me and doesn't help. Don't get me wrong, they like M and they get along. There just isn't the easiness that exists between me and M's family. I hope that will continue to develop now that we're married.

This Thanksgiving, M and I will spend it at his brother's house. His dad will spend a night or two with us on the way there, and on the trip back (which will be in time to watch college football; only M and his dad are nearly as into it as I am). M's mom is now in the same town as his brother. It'll be a nice couple days. We just need to figure out WTH we're going to do with 4 dogs. Good thing my folks are driving down for Christmas.