All Comes Out in the Wash

My in laws are a never ending source of amusement and exasperation. When I met Wifey in 1983, her parents were actually a plus. As a third generation American, I guess I hungered for my ethnic roots, and when I met my future in laws, I found their schtetl ways and immigrant habits charming.

My mother in law cooked like, I imagined, my grandmothers and great grandmothers must have cooked --authentic Jewish soul food. They were always very generous with my family and friends, and anyone leaving their house without being stuffed by meals was considered a poor guest.

Over the years, I've learned, like many son in laws, that there's often a thin line between charming and annoying.

Wifey, as an only child, is on a mission to have her parents visit their grandchildren every two weeks. Since D1 is away at college, D2 has the singular pleasure of being the sole object of her grandparents' love and adoration. They truly do adore their granddaughters, and my girls, to their credit, look past their eccentricities and appreciate them.

Last visit, they showed up with weeks' worth of laundry. They live in a gorgeous condo we bought for them, with, I thought, a working washer and dryer. My father in law claims that the washer DOES work fine, but his wife is simply incompetent to use it. My mother in law says that he's nuts --the machine is broken.

I'm a Florida Circuit Court Certified mediator, so I figured I'd get to the bottom of this dispute. I asked my father in law why he doesn't just call the service company he pays for, to check the washer. "It works fine"! he bellowed to me. I turned to my mother in law, and said there's apparently no problem. "Vell --if it's no problem --vy he has to put 5 buckets of vater into the machine ven he uses it?"

Some disputes are insoluble.

Thus, it appears that for the forseeable future, the bi weekly visits will come with a built in activity: doing laundry.

Ah, in laws...