Very Different Families

My husband and I have very different families.

My parents were divorced when I was 4. My father remarried about 18 months later and is still married to my stepmother. They celebrated 40 years together this past February.

My mom is crazy (and I mean that in a good way). She loves anything exciting. She ice skated professionally and travelled the world with Holiday On Ice before she married my dad and had us 5 kids. She has continued living her life (mostly single) travelling the world, flipping houses, and embarking on many adventures. I love my mother and her craziness.

I went to live with my dad when I was 8. My stepmother had a large impact on my life. I love her like she is my mother.

I used to hate feeling emotionally pulled between two mothers ... now as an adult, I think it's great to have two mom's that offer me two very different things.

I love my dad without question. I never wonder if he loves me.

My husband was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. His parents went to live there shortly after they were married and returned to the United States after raising 4 kids and spending 35 years there. They have been married for 53 years. They are like parents to me. I love them and will always be grateful they are a part of my life and that they welcome me as part of their family.

All of my family members have ... shall we say ... an "offbeat" sense of humor. My husband's family ... well ... they are a tad more sedate.

Here are two examples that show the difference between the two families.

My husband shows me a news snippet from the morning paper that reads something like this, "... Yesterday at a crowded local Mall, an escalator malfunctioned and flattened out sending a crowd of shoppers tumbling to the bottom." Well, I just about busted a gut laughing ... I started laughing at "flattened out". My husband said "It's not THAT funny ... people could have been hurt", but clearly he showed that to me because it was funny. (This was years ago and I'm still laughing as I'm writing this).

To prove to him that it was funny I called my siblings and each one thought it was equally hilarious. I called his side of the family and I got "... oh my goodness, I hope no one was hurt."

Example number two, my MIL emailed me a recipe for meatloaf she thought the kids would love (should I mention here that she is the most genuinely nice person I've ever met? ). Anyway, the recipe called for 1 cup of white wine. I immediately drafted a response to her that said, "I don't know much about cooking with wine ... is it okay for the kids or should I just make this dish on the days I want the kids in bed early?" I of course thought this was hilarious ... but having lived in this family for 16 years I hesitated to hit the send button. I called my stepmother to get a reality check about whether I should send it. She thought it was really funny and that I should send it ... I still wasn't sure. So I finally bet her that I would get a very serious response back. My mom thought it was so clearly funny that it would make my MIL laugh. This is the response I got, "Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe you could replace the wine with milk."

I rest my case.