BATTLE OF WILLS

Last weekend I dragged my mother-in-law with me to Tulsa for a plant festival. We were spending the day with my mom, sister and niece. I thought it would be a good outing for the two of us. We could pick out plants together and maybe do some shopping. You know, some bonding. I was mostly worried about my mom. She has always been a bit critical, but since J's death she's been horrible. She can say the cruelest things. I don't know if it was because the celestial beings were in perfect alignment or what, but my mom was on her best behavior. We had a great time at the plant festival. My mother-in-law was thrilled to find Thai pepper plants and we bought some tomato and basal plants. I bought more lavender plants to murder (can't get those things to live!). Things were going smooth until we ended up at the sales wracks in Dillards.

I don't really understand why my mother can't wrap it around her brain that I have lost weight. She's always randomly thrown in little snaps about my weight. One time a cousin I hadn't seen in a while remarked on how good I looked. I said something about wishing I was thinner and how I went to the gym all the time. My mom pipped up and said "Yeah, she goes to the gym all the time and she just can't manage to loose the weight". I was too shocked to do any thing but blink.

This apparently has not changed. She kept pulling out the XL sizes for me and saying "How about this? This is nice". Every time I would reply "Yeah, but it's too big. I wear L now". She did keep me from buying very much though, saving me some money. Sometimes I really want to know what's going on in her brain when she says these things. It only gets to me a teeny tiny bit. I know I'm doing great. I'm happy and healthy. So what if I'm not a cover model. I feel good about myself and that's all that matters.

I did bond with my mother-in-law. She earned a place in my heart when she stuck up for me, going on and on about all the good stuff I eat throughout the week because Chris and I are on a diet. She told my mother that I deserved that buffalo burger because I do so well during the week. Score one for the mother-in-law.