It was my mother-in-law\u2019s 60th birthday. A big celebration, guests, relatives, neighbors \u2014 everyone came to congratulate the birthday woman. We came as a family, and I truly hoped the day would be warm and friendly. But, as it turned out, I was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the very beginning my mother-in-law behaved strangely. My daughter, who is only five, had spent the whole day drawing a card for her grandmother. I even helped her pick bright markers. But when the little girl handed her drawing with shining eyes, the grandmother took it with obvious disgust, as if she were handed something unnecessary, and silently put it aside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then something happened that hurt me the most. When we all sat at the beautifully decorated table \u2014 with colorful napkins, candles, and little gifts for the children \u2014 my mother-in-law suddenly said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 No, that girl is not sitting at the table.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n She sat my daughter separately, on a folding chair in the laundry room next to a stack of towels and a loudly running washing machine. On her plate they put one sausage and a dry roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while the other kids cheerfully crunched salads, reached for candies, and enjoyed the festive table, my little girl sat aside, holding her plate against her knees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My heart tightened with pain. I walked to my mother-in-law and asked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Why are you doing this? She\u2019s just a child.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Because your daughter has no manners,<\/em> she replied coldly. She doesn\u2019t know how to use a fork and knife. I\u2019m ashamed of her in front of the guests. And she\u2019ll stain her dress.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I realized there was no point in talking. But at that moment a plan appeared in my head \u2014 how to put this \u201cqueen of the celebration\u201d in her place and defend my daughter. I quickly ran to a store and returned with a big box, a \u201cgift\u201d just for my mother-in-law. I\u2019ll tell you what I did \u2014 and I hope you\u2019ll support me\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the time came to give gifts, all the guests took turns handing her bouquets, envelopes, and souvenirs. Then my turn came. I approached her and, smiling, handed her my gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My mother-in-law opened the box\u2026 and froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Why do I need this?<\/em> she whispered tightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 What do you mean why?<\/em> I said loudly, so the whole room heard, and started listing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 This apron is so you don\u2019t stain your clothes. After all, you\u2019re getting older, your hands tremble.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 And this \u2014 a children\u2019s fork and knife, safe so you don\u2019t hurt yourself. Anything can happen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 And look, a children\u2019s bib \u2014 very useful, in case soup spills.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Here\u2019s also a pill organizer for every day of the week \u2014 it must be hard for you to remember what and when to take.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Oh, and a sound key finder \u2014 since you lose things so often, now you\u2019ll always find them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 I also took care of this anti-wrinkle cream \u201c70+\u201d \u2014 well, for the future, you\u2019ll need it soon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 And these magnifying glasses \u2014 so you can better see your granddaughter\u2019s drawings.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Another gift for comfort \u2014 an orthopedic seat cushion, so you won\u2019t complain about your back.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 And finally \u2014 anti-slip slippers, so you don\u2019t fall at home.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The room burst into laughter. Guests couldn\u2019t hide their smiles; someone even clapped. And my mother-in-law stood red, either from anger or shame, and didn\u2019t know where to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And my daughter laughed loudly and happily clapped her hands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Mommy, mommy, look, grandma also got a bib!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was my mother-in-law\u2019s 60th birthday. A big celebration, guests, relatives, neighbors \u2014 everyone came to congratulate the birthday woman. We came as a family, and I truly hoped the day would be warm and friendly. But, as it turned out, I was wrong. From the very beginning my mother-in-law behaved strangely. My daughter, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1752,"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750\/revisions\/1752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virli.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}