In-laws! It’s not always easy coping with them, and I believe most of you would agree.
One thing about my mother was that she loved her garden and seemed not to be fond of my husband. And when I say she wasn’t fond of him, I mean it. And it wasn’t that my husband felt any different about her, so I spent most of my life listening to them argue and detest each other. Needless to say, I was fed up, but there wasn’t really anything I could do about it. At least not until I learned the truth they kept hidden for 27 years.
When my dad passed away, my mother got addicted to making sure her garden was flawless. She planted roses, more tomatoes than I’ve ever seen, and this maple tree she planted the year I married Joe, exactly 27 years ago.
Of course I never thought that my marriage and that tree could be two things related until I found myself standing under that tree in the middle of the night with a shovel in my hand.
My name is Sarah Beaumont, and I always thought that my husband and I had a pretty standard life. Joe’s a carpenter with a steady job, and we have two daughters together. We even have an old dog, Copper, who just loves sleeping right across the foot of our bed. And it would have all been picture perfect if it wasn’t the rocky relationship between Joe and my mother.
Whenever I tried to understand the feud between them, I’d tell myself it was because of their totally different personalities. While my mom was independent and reserved, Joe was easy-going and loud. I loved my mom to death, but looking back, I inherited her worst traits: I hate conflict, I struggle to ask for help, and I’ll avoid a hard question if I’m terrified of what the answer might be.
