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Boomer Watch 2025: Don’t Let Your In-Laws/Family Control Your Life
I am in my late 40s and my husband and I have been married for over 25 years. My son is going to be 23 this year. Life has gone by so fast.
One thing I have learned is not to let anyone control your life, your family, your holidays or traditions.
When I moved here and joined the family, I wanted to fit in. So naturally, you kind of do what your partner does. Go to all the family events, go to the holiday parties. Go to the cousin’s dog's birthday party.
Keep the peace. Smile.
It took me 10 years to learn that being controlled by an elderly matriarch sucks. And I didn’t want it anymore. I wanted control back of my family, my holidays and my home. I did not want to have to come up with excuses to miss holidays.
I wanted to say “FK you, I’m staying home. My family and I are doing something else.”
And I finally started to do this. And immediately I got pushback from my husband. Traditional and Midwestern, his saintly mother came first. And we have fought a lot.
I finally started to get a break from all of the shenanigans when my son went to college and the Covid pandemic.