Dirty Dishes, Clean Conscience
Hubby and I have been together for 15 years we both work full-time and share the chores at home, I cook, and he does the dishes. MIL adores her son and in her eyes, no one is good enough for him. We have never lived in the same city. The first time she visited our home I cooked my best dinner, 4 courses, nice wine, and the whole fireworks to impress MIL. After dessert and coffee, my husband started taking the dishes to the sink and started washing, them while still making small conversations with MIL and myself ( I was exhausted after a day of work and cooking).
The moment husband’s hands touched the water MIL’s face changed. Her mouth twisted and she started mumbling and breathing weirdly. She apologized and walked out, I thought she went for a smoke, so I just went to lie down in my bed. I was just touching my bed when I heard my husband consoling her mom, she was crying. She didn’t know I went to my bed and I could hear them.
She started sobbing about all the sacrifices she made to give him a good life, that she never thought she would see him washing dishes. That she had raised him better than this. That I broke her heart for making him do house chores. My husband is the best man ever, he has an incredible sense of humor, and he found the whole situation risible. He started laughing very loudly and asked her to stop the drama. He told her that they had just had one of the best home-cooked dinners of their lives, that I had worked very hard to have a nice dinner, and that crying over some dishes was infantile. He went as far as tickling his mom to stop her crying.