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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

How to Get Your Kids To Eat Their Veggies!

Or The Mother-In-Law Story

We have all heard those "Mother-In-Law" stories, right?  A bunch of people get together and in no time you will hear someone say "My Mother-In-Law is so bad...."
Well so far we have been able to top the other stories that we have heard.


Let me set the stage for you.
The year:  1976
The place:  New Hampshire, my mother's house
The event:  Between base moves.  Husband is in the U.S. Air Force and we are moving from England to Louisiana.
The cast: Hubby, me, two children (ages 5 months and almost 5 years.)....And My Mother.

We were spending a few weeks between bases as we were just coming back from England where we had been for a few years. Our daughter was born over there and no one had seen her yet so instead of going straight to the new base, we decided to head over to New Hampshire for a few weeks to show off our little girl and our big boy.  My mother had offered for us to stay with her and it was the more centrally located home of anyone else's so we took her up on her kindness.

We had become Christians and were really trying to live the words Romans 12:18 "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." So since she offered we decided it was worth staying with her, after all it was only for a week.

We had visited with my in-laws (who were a gift from God himself to me!) and my sister and her kids (she had 3 by then) and some friends as well.

One night we were finishing up dinner and my mother made some Indian Pudding for dessert. Indian Pudding is a concoction made from cornmeal, molasses, milk, butter, maple syrup, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. It's considered a true New England tradition.

Baby daughter was just 5 months while our son was almost 5 years old.

The baby was too young for it so she got whatever I had for her.  Our son was offered a popcycle instead, and I don't like Indian Pudding, never have.  Hubby was still trying to make peace with this woman so he ate some.  I asked him if he liked it and if he did I would make him some.  He told me that it was fine if I never made it as it was not very good.  It was late so we went to bed.

Sometime in the middle of the night, he was really sick. Throwing up and looking just terrible. I decided we had to go to the hospital and called 911.  We were taken to the local VA hospital where they began to run all sorts of tests on him.  At one point the doctor came to see me and asked where we had eaten dinner thinking we had gone out to some restaurant.  I told him we had eaten at my mothers house and started to tell him what we all ate.  Then I remembered the Indian Pudding and the fact that she didn't eat any. She loved this stuff and would make it often while I was growing up but this night she didn't eat any, saying she was too full.

The doctor told me he had found rat poison in hubby's stomach.  My heart sank, not only was my husband suffering from food poisoning but because of the late hour, I had left the two kids sleeping at my mothers house.  I quickly called my father-in-law and begged him to get over to my mother's house and pick up the kids and then get to the hospital. Without asking questions, they got dressed and got our kids and stuff for them and got to the hospital. I was blessed with the best In-Laws I ever could have wanted.

Hubby would be OK but he had been poisoned.  I went to my in-laws home after that and when I returned to my mothers house to collect the things that were left behind, I asked her about it. 

Her response was:
"You will be better off as a widow."

We could have pressed charges but hubby didn't want to do that. Remember, we are now Christians and we live by a different set of values.  Plus we are moving to Louisiana and may never see her again. 
He tried to convince himself that her eye sight was failing and that the box of cornmeal and the box of rat poison look similar so it was an honest mistake, right?  Only if she had eaten some of it would I ever believe that plus there is her statement to me.   

Now we did leave the Air Force in 1980 and return to NH because we had other family up here.  We did go to her home for meals - funny things about her meals - the family only ate what I ate since she wouldn't try to kill me.  This is a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies!!! See how I got the title of the blog into this story.....  

Move forward some 16 years. My mother was dying of lung cancer and could no longer care for herself.  She had to live with someone. My hubby said that we had the most room and were closer to her doctor's so she should live with us. I reminded him she is the same woman who poisoned him with Indian Pudding.  Without batting an eye he says,
"Well, she isn't cooking!"
You just gotta love a guy like that! I know, I do!

16 comments:

  1. Wow! Now that is a mother in law story! You married one heck of a guy to not only go back to your mothers home but to invite her into his home to live. You had better hang on to him! :)

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    1. Yes, he is a real keeper. I think your husband is a keeper too.

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  2. Your hubby is a better person than I am ... I'm not sure that I would have been able to open my home to my mother if she had done to my hubby what yours did to your hubby. He's certainly a keeper.

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    1. Living the Christian life can sometimes be hard. We are told by God's word to honor and care for our parents. No where in the Bible does it say to do so ONLY if they were good parents. So we took care of her. Yes, he is a keeper.

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  3. Amazing story and I have to agree...you're husband is a heck of a guy for taking her in after what she (allegedly) did.

    Left and Write

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    1. My mother was a angry woman, she stayed angry all her life. Hubby is not angry at all and I love him very much.

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  4. In defence of my MIL. She was blind as a bat! Her glasses were as thick as Coke bottle bottoms. It is plausible that she could have simply made a mistake, notwithstanding her comments to SWMBO! Those comments were not out of character for her considering that she hated my guts for having the audacity to have married her daughter. Just sayin'!

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    1. I love you but you're were not there when she talked to me. Thank you for thinking nice things about her.

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  5. Holy cow! That has to be the topper of all MIL stories! Thankfully your husband was fine. What a man to put all of that behind him.

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    1. Liz,
      He a great man who truly knows how to forgive so well.

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  6. I remember when you first told me this story. We were sitting together at a staff meeting having lunch. I was stunned hearing this horror story back then, and still feel shocked reading it here in your blog.

    Gerry is indeed a prince among men. You had the courage to face the ugly truth about your mother. You protected your husband and children from her hatefulness and future harm.

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    1. Anu,
      At some point both Gerry and I knew that she was the one who lost out on so much love and joy from here children and grand children. She never really learned to enjoy life and that was her choice and her loss. It was sad in fact. So yes, here hatefulness was not ever going to hurt me or my family but that was her choice. I think Gerry is a prince as well and his humor gets me laughing all these years later.

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  7. Wow! I'm so glad your hubby was okay. What a sweet man he must be to take her in during her illness after that. You are a blessed woman.

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    1. Cathy, As the Bible says, we have to honor and care for our parents. It doesn't say that it would be easy to honor and care for them. We have to be the best "children" we can be in spite of our parents. We are only responsible for our actions. Yes, I'm a blessed woman. I know it.

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  8. Oh my word, that story is unbelievable!!! If she didn't have any you certainly know why and the fact the she said you would be better off a widow. How messed up is that? I'm so sorry. ((HUGS))

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    1. Debbie, Yes, she was messed up. We laugh about it now and tell our kids spouses how we got our kids to eat their veggies. Time heels all hurts. Thanks for the hugs.

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