My rude awakening

I did not have the typical (as I found out later) relationship with my Mother-in-law. I thought she was the greatest right from the start. Now part of this was because my relationship with my own Mother was not good. We always had somewhat of a stormy relationship to say the least. So when I got married I just chose to hang out with my husbands' family. This of course is not really typical, but I didn't realize it wasn't until much later in life. I never called my mother in law by her name I just started calling her Mom. Again not the norm! Of course she had some quirky habits that annoyed me like never folding her laundry or cleaning the house and let's not forget dropping cigarette ashes everywhere but the ashtray!
But like any relationship it is give and take and she gave me a lot - so I overlooked these things. So...... in my innocence I thought this was how it would be when my son got married! I would be called Mom and we would be one big happy family. The rude awakening came when this wasn't quite how things were. I had to learn to let go of that notion and embrace my daughter-in-law we needed to forge our own relationship. This doesn't happen overnight - it takes time, just like anything worth-while and important! Guess what, my daughter-in-law doesn't call me Mom -- and you know what -
I'm really OK with that!!.