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AIBU

Am I Jealous or is this normal?

(85 Posts)
FridayIsComing Tue 14-Jan-20 00:03:38

Hi everyone,

I am in a bit of a difficult situation atm. My DH brother is getting married. He is a good guy and i was really pleased about this.
DH comes from a catholic family. I am a christian with some beliefs but wanting to become more religious especially when i have children but not necessarily Catholic religious. I hope i am not causing any offence with my terminology.
Mil refused to accept our relationship and pulled a number of stunts to try and cancel the wedding. It was a long and tiresome process. In the end we got married 5 years ago and i spent 3 years trying to fit in. Anyway we have a LO now and this has helped relationship with Mil.
This is where it gets complicated.
Dh’s brother is marrying an atheist. Mil meets her for the first time and says “If you are happy and my son is happy then i am happy”. She then happily talks wedding clothes and venues. Not minding if it not a church wedding but saying her preference would be to have a church wedding. Mil doesnt realise o heard this as i overheard on the baby monitor!!
When we got married we had to have a second wedding in a church, three days after our real wedding so mil would be happy!!
Anyway i am livid. I told dh how i felt n he said i am holding grudges and i should be glad his brother is not experiencing the problems we endured just to keep the peace. But he did say he too felt a pang of hurt but his overall opinion is that he is happy for his brother. I am too but i feel sadness for myself.
I feel any progress i made with MIL has become undone. I just wish i didn't care but this is a new level of rejection by mil.
Mil has recently lost her mother so dh is saying this has softened her.
Anyway AIBU to feel hurt or am i in fact jealous? I dont think i am jealous as it is a horrible trait.

justwokeup Wed 15-Jan-20 00:02:10

Do you remember the film 'Fiddler on the Roof'? The father's expectations regarding his daughters' marriages changed with each successive relationship. Even with the daughter's marriage he thought he couldn't accept, he relented at the end. Your MiL has had her battle and found out it was all for nothing. Or perhaps DH's brother is not the favourite child? grin. In any case make friends your new SiL and let the past lie. Your MiL needs to address her own conscience - perhaps that is what she is doing this time around.

oodles Wed 15-Jan-20 00:31:54

yes you have broken the nould and all that, but it is quite understandable that your mental scars are itching . I listened too much to my mother in law around the wedding time, she managed to block perfectly reasonable things, and subsequently tried to dictate the children's baptisms. If you can strengthen yourself and stop her doing similar to you again am sure this will help. It took me too long to grow a backbone. One thing that I am determined though is should my children ever decide to marry, I will help if I can but will not interfere. In my experience keeping feelings buried inside isn;t healthy, they will come out eventually. Far better to confront them and deal with them. It's probably not jealousy, afer all whoo would wish such treatment on someone else, but anger at how your wishes were overridden, You will always wish it had not been as it was, but you can acknowledge the hurt and anger that you had to swallow. Talk to friends, , anyone who'll listen, a counsellor if you can manage to find one. Maybe you'll get to the stage where you can let your mil know how you felt, maybe after the wedding, you know if that might be a good idea. She may appreciate the chance to make amends and apologise, and that would likely help your relationship

Evie64 Wed 15-Jan-20 22:01:09

Sounds to me as if she learnt a valuable lesson in the way she dealt with you and her son? Good. Don't agree with people pushing their religious or political beliefs on other people. Just be happy that your experience with her paved the way for others.

Starlady Sat 18-Jan-20 16:12:14

So understand why this upsets you, Friday! Please congratulate yourself, though, on having smoothed the way for your SisIL2B! Also, I agree that the loss of MIL's mum may have softened her (reminded her of what's important) - and maybe the birth of your LO, too. She may realize now that BIL's marriage may lead to more GC and this may mean more to her than any wedding ceremony. I agree w/ others, too, that you and DH should take away the following from this - no need to cater to MIL's wishes for your lives/religious choices.

OutsideDave Sat 18-Jan-20 22:44:59

It’s more likely she likes bil better than dh and that’s why she’s so eager to accept his new bride. My guess there is a pattern there between the brothers. I’d be wary of what wil happen when the new couple has children.

FridayIsComing Wed 22-Jan-20 23:27:47

Back again! I find new reasons to be angry with DH n in laws as the wedding saga n preparations progress. I just cannot contain my resentment for their interference not just at the wedding but also throughout the duration of our marriage so far. And already there are numerous incidents of how BIL is making independent decisions (and so he should!) and everyone is playing happy families. And i am sat in the corner privately seething. Had myself a private pity party earlier. I am so tired of feeling this way. I am livid at dh for being such a walk over and never standing up for us and sacrificing our wants for the sake of his family. I feel like a mug.

Sparkling Thu 23-Jan-20 07:53:50

Just let it go, why harbour so much resentment for what's gone. No one had a gun to your head when you married,you needn't have gone along with it, but you did. You have a happy marriage, your mil has learnt she needed to change. Let the couple enjoy their wedding their way, don't spoil it for them. Your mil has lost her husband, that is so hard, she needs support, it obviously has made her focus on just what is important.

Nezumi65 Thu 23-Jan-20 08:05:13

Honestly? I would get some counselling. I had some to deal with my MIL grin (accidentally - it was meant to be about another issue but turned out MIL was more of a problem). It’s been incredibly helpful - we’ll never be best of friends but it has helped me let go of what was said & to establish some boundaries (not religion related but similar sorts of things about controlling how things are done). And as a result we get on a lot better as well. I think the counselling just helped me care less about her opinion of me, so I stopped trying - and bizarrely that seems to have helped the relationship between us

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