This is something new I’d like to try. Humor me. Enlighten me.
Hypothetical (?!) situation here. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Your mother-in-law knits a sweater with which to honor your daughter on her baptismal day. No, not a sweater to wear as she’s receiving the sacrament, nor a family heirloom, but a simple everyday around –the- house kind of sweater. No great shakes, just a damn sweater. You hold this sweater in your possession for say oh, one year and a half. Occasionally you dress the baby in it, on colder days, and use it for her older sister who fits in it as well. Yeah the sweater was way too big and the girls are just about the same size.
Anyhoo, your mother-in-law’s daughter finds out she is having a baby girl. Some months before the birth, you get a phone call from your mother-in-law. You figure that it’s odd that she called you at home, as she usually calls on your cell phone so as to avoid actually having to speak with you. In any case, during that phone call she straight out tells you that she’d like the sweater back because she hasn’t had time to knit one for the new baby and she’s sure that her daughter would like it. Duh!? Huh!? Wasn’t it a gift? Whilst scooping your jaw up off the floor and spitting out the few flies that you have caught in your gaping mouth in the interim, you fumble for anything else to say except the truly rude and totally vulgar explicative that you’d like to. You calmly explain that your girls still wear the sweater. She retorts by insisting that maybe you could give it back when the girls outgrow it. Somehow, without actually consenting, you lead her to believe that you have, and politely move towards ending the telephone conversation.
You then (please, choose from the options below)….
(a) hang up the phone, blurt out the explicative to yourself, try to chalk it up to bad manners and get on with your life, ignoring that she ever asked for it at all.
(b) after deciding that your girls are finished with the sweater, use it to make the girls’ bunny’s nest more comfortable.
(c) promptly Fed Ex the sweater to her with a note telling her what to do with it.
(d) get right to work on conceiving babies number three, four and five in order to hang on to it for say another six years or so. By then your niece will have outgrown it.
(e) wash the sweater in the gentle cycle with about twenty Velcro closure bibs (whoops), dry it, wrap it up with a big pink bow and personally bring it to your sister-in-law.
(f) do none of the above. (please, explain)
I thinkj I would just laugh it off. Yes, it is crazy rude and NUTS! - I mean really nuts. Think of it as a nice way to torture your sister-in-law. I am sure she is just thrilled at the prospect of getting a size extra-large sweater for her impending newborn. I am sure she had nothing to do with requesting the sweater and it would be fun to be there when MIL gives it to her.
Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to torture anyone, especially since I can guarantee that my SIL had nothing to do with it. And I definitely wouldn’t begrudge my niece the sweater, after all it’s just an article of clothing and she is soooo cute!
Don’t mind my ranting. It’s just that every so often something silly like this comes up and makes for a good laugh to share. It’s also nice to have a harmless outlet for the nasty thoughts that pop into one’s mind - which one would obviously never act on.
Thanks for your comment! I love feedback!
I’d send it back with no note and I’d be pissed for a long time. If I kept it, it would make me angry every time I saw it. No manners! I have a similiar sounding MIL.
In all honesty, I don’t use the sweater that much of late, and I just bought the girls two different sweaters each since this posted. So I may just take your advice. It makes sense. Thank you.
Don’t even get me started on the topic of in-laws! I simply don’t have the energy! Ha!