Orange You Glad It Was Just Fruit And Not A Puppy?

My mother-in-law has always been a headstrong woman, determined to get her own way, and to heck with what other people might want. One example is this story. Here’s another example.

In the early 1990s, my then-fiancé and I were saving every extra penny for our wedding. Money wasn’t exactly TIGHT, per se, but we cut out all unnecessary expenses. During this time, we paid a visit to my fiancé’s parents. When the visit was over and we were on our way out the door, his mother handed him a box.

Fiancé: “What’s this, Mum?”

Mother-In-Law: “[Younger Brother]’s high school held a fundraiser by selling boxes of oranges and grapefruit. I got you and [My Name] one.”

Fiancé: *Surprised* “Oh! Well, thank you. That was nice of—”

Mother-In-Law: *Interrupting* “So, you owe me [amount].”

He was too taken aback not to pay up. In hindsight, the two of us should have given her the box back and said, “No, thanks.” As we trudged to the car:

Me: “She didn’t even ask if we wanted this stuff.”

Fiancé: “I know.”

Me: “If she had asked, we would’ve said no. We don’t like grapefruit!”

Fiancé: “I know.”

Me: “In other words, we spent [amount] that we can’t really afford on a box of fruit, half of which is probably going to end up in the garbage.”

Fiancé: “Yep.”

I’m happy to say that we’ve both developed backbones since then, and we now firmly refuse if [Mother-In-Law] tries to coerce us into doing something we don’t want to do.

Related:
A Very Awkward Engagement