>To My Future Daughter-in-Law
>Dear Future Daughter-in-Law,
By the time you read this, Bruiser will no doubt be a handsome and accomplished young man. I suspect he’ll have a temper, but it will be countered by the extraordinary amount of affection he lavishes on those he loves. Bruiser may be only two right now, but I can already see signs of the man he’ll become, and I know he chose wisely when he selected you to be his wife.
I’m certain, for example, that you have Values. That you don’t have a dodgy reputation. That you want to have children more than anything. That you’re smart and ambitious and a great cook. I have a feeling that you spend many hours a month volunteering and helping those less fortunate, and that you give a significant portion of your income to charity. I know you want to always live close to your husband’s wonderful mother and father, and I’m hoping desperately that the thought of one day putting your own son in a smocked romper makes you throw up a little in your mouth.
These things being the case, I have no doubt that we’ll get along just fine. But there’s one thing you should always, always remember if you and I are to have a successful relationship.
He loved me first.
He was showing off for me before he even knew your name.
He’s grown up searching at all times for my face in the crowd.
He adores me with a fierce and mysterious devotion that’s reserved exclusively for children and their mothers.
And I am just as unconditionally bound to him. Wives may come and go, dear daughter-in-law. But my bond with my son was formed years before you met him. And it will last forever.
Love,
Lindsay
Disclaimer: I was uploading these cute pictures of Bruiser yesterday and thinking about how wonderful he is and then laughed when I thought, “Uh oh, if I don’t watch it, I’m going to become one of THOSE mothers-in-law.” I wrote this post as a joke. It’s funny to me. I don’t plan to be one of THOSE mothers-in-law, in fact, I’m sure I won’t be, but I think all mothers of boys can relate a tiny bit to this post, which was totally written in jest. I’m sorry if you’re going through something with your own mother-in-law that makes you hate this post, but there’s no need to put that on me. There’s also no need to analyze my entire lifelong relationship with my son based on a post I wrote as a joke when he was two. Or to deduce that I have a hidden, underlying problem with letting go, particularly when my children are at the pre-adolescent age when letting go is SUPPOSED to be unimaginable. Or to give me advice on how/when/why I should let go. If I’m writing this when he’s 26 and engaged, though, LET’S TALK. Thanks, hugz, and have a great weekend!
