Life With My Soldier

I called my mother-in-law today. I hadn't talked to her in about a month, and I haven't seen her since before Christmas. She lives about 2 hours away from where I'm staying right now, so there's really no good explanation of why I haven't got up there to see her. I am going to see her this Sunday though, so I feel better since I talked to her. Sometimes I have a hard time getting to the point of wanting to go up and see her by myself. It was easier when Eric was around because he helped me out when I would be at a loss for something to say. Not that there's ever any dead space though, she talks A LOT. Well, she rambles a lot. I guess it's alright though. I get along with her pretty well. She's really good to me, and she even calls me "daughter #2" (after her own daughter, of course). She took me in from the start and made me feel at home. She even let me move in and live with her while Eric was at AIT. It was definitely nice of her. Don't get me wrong, we have had our differences. She gets on my nerves when she tries to butt into our business. I was raised to be my own person. My parents were always there for me, but after I turned 18 they didn't butt into my business unless I asked them to. They never ask about my finances, they never tell me what they think I should do about this or that. My mother-in-law, on the other hand, was still balancing Eric's checkbook when I met him. He worked, full time, but she still made him a budget, and with his own money, gave him an allowance. So, when we he went to AIT, he gave me his checkbook and told me to handle it. He told him mom that I was going to be taking care of it, and she didn't have to worry about it anymore. Well, she backed off, a little. She did, however, try to "teach" me how to do it her way. I kind of just smiled and nodded through it and went about my own business. From then to now, she has changed tremendously. She's not quite as pushy and nosey, but she has a favorite saying. I never thought I would hate something as much as I hate this phrase, "What you should do is..." That's like nails on a chalkboard to me. That's her way of trying to control the situation without actually saying, "do it my way." That's ok though. I think that when we moved to Kansas, 5 hrs from her, it helped things out. Now things are pretty good between us, and I don't feel the need to pull my hair out every time she opens her mouth. I know she just likes to help, and it's her nature to try to keep things under control. She was a single mom with twins, and an older son. She had to keep control of things, she was the only one they had. So, since I've gotten space from her, I've come to the conclusion that it's just her way of helping. Compared to stories I've heard of other people's MIL's, mine is wonderful.