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I Lost My First Mother-in-law in The Divorce

I was heartbroken to realize I couldn’t keep her

Ruby Lee
Human Parts
3 min readSep 10, 2024

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Photo by Redd F on Unsplash

Imagine having a mother-in-law that you love! That’s what I had during my first marriage. My first mother-in-law was a wonderful lady with a truly gentle, loving spirit. I think that was why I was so blindsided when my second mother-in-law turned out to be a mean-spirited witch. However, during the short, but very special time, I knew my first mother-in-law, I never once heard her say anything critical of anyone. She never gossiped, and she was always kind.

Growing up, I often listened to my mother and her friends talk about everyone on our street, but my mother-in-law never talked about anyone. This made a huge impression on me. I thought talking about people was normal. I didn’t know people like her existed. I thought everyone was mean sometimes and gossiped. She was kind and chose her words carefully.

My mother-in-law immediately accepted me into the family, even though her other daughter-in-law hated me. Although my arrival created family strife, she never seemed to blame me. Her motherly ways soothed my soul because it had only been a year since my mother died. I was lost without a mother, and I hoped my mother-in-law would feel that spot in my heart.

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Ruby Lee
Ruby Lee

Written by Ruby Lee

Mother, Wife, Teacher, Librarian, Teller of Stories. Author of The Marriage Wars by Leeanne Beasley Berry. Top Writer in Parenting, This Happened to Me, Humor

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