72 : Remember They Are His Family

Upon our initial split, I felt very torn as to how this would impact my relationship with my inlaws. I had grown close with my mother in law over the years- particularly since I had kids. She had a huge heart, she would do anything for me or for anyone in her family for that matter. I know she was devastated to hear her son and I were having problems. I was very blunt with her at first about how upset I was. How confused I was about all of this. How terribly sad I was that HE had made this decision. And she listened. She showed sympathy. She still cared about me and worried about what was happening. But at the end of the day, she was HIS mom. I was hurting so much that I needed to be around people who had my sole best interest at heart. And that wasn’t her. It couldn’t be her. She loved me, and she loved my kids but she would always be his mother. It put a little distance between us (as to be expected). She had always been a wonderful Grandma and I knew she would continue to be in the future. And I wanted to encourage that relationship- both for her sake and for the sake of my kids. But it was different now. Maybe once the dust settled we would be able to find our way again, but it was tough for now. It was hard to continue that relationship without acknowledging how much I was hurting and WHY I was hurting. We both knew, but we couldn’t talk about it anymore. I hoped that we would be able to maintain our relationship moving forward, no matter what happened. Only time would tell.