Do you know the number one fear of newly-wed couples?

It is talking to your in-laws, especially mother-in-law.

I feared communicating to her as I saw her as a serious and stern lady.

I was having a lot of problem during my first 9 months after getting married.

It was not easy to patch things up between my wife and my mother-in-law.

Being in that position isn’t a place that husbands want to be.

You can’t take sides. Maybe you can.

But most of the times, you simply can’t take sides.

If you side with your mother-in-law, you can imagine what will happen at home later.

You may have scuffles and fights with your spouse.

If you side your wife, your mother-in-law isn’t going to be very hapy either.

It is an emotional torture. An emotional imprisonment.

Why can’t everybody just be happy and harmonious for the fact we are a family?

I am not going to go in detail what happened exactly between my wife and my mother-in-law.

I guess every house-hold will have their own problems, just appears in different forms and at different levels.

Personally, I feel every problem can be alleviated, the pain lessened. It just take one or preferaby both sides to give way and see from another healthier perspective.

It is not easy.

I almost died reminding my dear wife to call her mom regularly. I almost give up doing my best to convince her to see from another perspective.

She has one mother after all and inevitably, we are all walking towards the end of our lives whether we like it or not.

How much time do we have to spend together?

Yesterday, we had a family gathering to celebrate one of the our birthdays.

It was really heart-warming to see mother and daugthers sit together and laughed their hearts out.

We were realy having a great time. Quality time in fact.

Remember I was thrashed by my mother-in-law over the phone.

However, I refused to give up even I got metaphorically “shot” in the heart and in my self-esteem.

How long did it take to bring about this outcome?

9 months of relentless encouragement and convincing my wife to simply see from another perspective – that is she is her mother after all.