| To me it sounds as though each of these elders feels they can depend more upon their own children than their second spouse. In what ways do you feel that you need to be "emotionally responsive" to your MIL? Is she asking you for anything particularly, or is it just your sense of what family should feel like if the circumstances were different?
WOndering if the other set of "children" and you could begin to communicate by email and form some kind of larger web for them both. Perhaps just knowing what's going on in the life of your MIL during the summer months (through her children if not through her) would make you feel appropriately connected. |