Daily Poll - Monday

[ct]

feel free to elaborate below!

[Deleted]

I adore my FIL, he is a great man. My MIL, she's ok but mother figures are always hard for me.

[2brides]

is there something between "love 'em" and "they are okay"? LOL. I like them, we get along, I have no issues with them, but we are not at that "love" part of our relationship.

[twotrue]

I don't have major issues with either of them. MIL drives me batty sometimes but she does that to her daughters too. MIL creates a lot of drama because she thrives on chaos. FIL is a good guy. He was not a father to K and I hate a lot of things about her childhood but I try to not let that influence how I view him now. I figure if she has settled the issues about her childhood then I certainly shouldn't have them.

[ct]

I love mine. If A ever leaves me, I'll make sure I get to keep her family in the settlement

[ct]

though I will say FIL is a strange duck and we've had our tiffs over the years

[kershnic]

We live across the country from her parents (and mine) and sisters, so our contact is somewhat limited. But I'd agree with 2brides that I'm somewhere between like and love. There's certainly no bad blood and they've been incredibly supportive of us, but I wouldn't say we're all that close. (It is sometimes a source of conflict in my relationship that we end up spending a lot more time with my family and therefore she knows my family better than vice versa.)

[cymru]

I only have a MIL. We have definately had our ups and downs over the years. I do however appreciate how good she is with Annie.

[never2amazing]

C's parents are okay. I think they are both brilliant beings, and I also think my MIL made a HUGE effort when they let us stay at their house at Christmas. Not only that, they let us sleep in the same bed! That meant a lot to me. I loves C's father's heart...you can just tell that he is a good man. I don't know what my "emotions" are, but I do know that they try when it comes to accepting me and that means a lot.

[hlke]

C's parents and I are getting there, but it has been a rough road. They couldn't be more different from my family and some of the tension just comes from me just not understanding things at all. They are not very thoughtful and can be quite blunt, and I have often taken that the wrong way, but I'm now realizing that's just the way they are.

Each time they learn "new" information about our relationship (we're dating, we're getting married, we're having kids) it has taken them some processing time. That is very hard on C, and I think that's where most of my struggle comes from with them. But things are definitely getting better, and I'm learning to be more patient.

Ironically, C gets along great with my family, probably better than I do!

[ElsaVonM]

"I do know that they try when it comes to accepting me and that means a lot."

"They couldn't be more different from my family."

Those thoughts pretty much sum it up. We are just different, and I used to attribute it to their evangelical/conservative/Southerness, but that's only part of it. My family is just totally different - different priorities, backgrounds, ways of communicating and connecting.

[rikkiandjulie]

I love Julie's family and often find me saying, they are more my family than my own.

Julie's oldest brother and his wife are our best friends, we did/do everything together.

MIL: is crazy but I still love her. Although she could stop creating drama.

FIL: is a very hardworking guy, who has come so far in supporting us. I think he's great.

J hates my dad, and gets mad that I still try. My dad is a good guy just his priorities are twisted between his kids and my stepmom. I try to maintain a relationship but it's strained.

J feels the same about my mom as I do hers.

My two younger sisters are my BEST friends. And Julie has watched them
Grow up. We are all really close.


Rikki-iPhone

[joyseattle]

My MIL is completely different from my mom - race, ethnicity, culture, primary language, age - that it has been a struggle. I knew that C's mom wanted her to be with a man instead of me, and she did/said things that hurt my feelings, but moreso in the early days of our relationship. She's never lived close, so there's always been the added dimension of travel and/or staying together.

C's brother is a bit older than her and while they weren't that close growing up, there communicating more now. He and his wife have a 6 yo daughter and a baby son. We've visited them a couple times in the last 6 years, but now that they're on the same coast we hope to see them more.

C is amazing with my family and is really close to my nana and a few other relatives on my side. In general, she gets along well with all my relatives, although I know at times my mom annoys her, but she annoys me too sometimes.

[hensmum]

I am squarely in the "okay" camp. I really do love them as my family members. But yowzers are we different! Sometimes it seems like C's family and my family come from different planets. Just the way they talk, relate to each other, what they cook with, what they are interested in, how they interact with Henry, etc, etc. We are at a pretty good place as far as understanding now that C and I have been together for NINE years. But I still feel like sometimes they look at me like I'm an alien, haha.

Like hlke said, they also need to time to "process" at every new step in our relationship, which can be hard. And they are pretty old school (they are actually a whole generation older than my youngster parents), so the generation gap can sometimes be a challenge.

All said, I have great affection for them, and I DID just survive a week on Cape Cod with them, with only one minor panic attack, so I guess we do okay ;-)