D’s BF seems to be a great guy thus far. I think he’s great for her, although H has a problem with his lack of religious affiliation. Now if only S would find a great guy too!
We like my BIL more than my sister. My mother and BIL are great friends by they do not talk on the phone at all. He comes over and they talk plumbing, yard work, sprinklers.
My daughter introduced us to a new boyfriend this weekend. Have to say that I wasn’t impressed. He was nice enough but just too different than what I’m used to.
Both sons – in their mid-20s – have been involved with their girlfriends for five years or more. One couple expects to marry, the other is more critical of the institution (legally not emotionally). I love love love them! They’re strong, ambitious, warm-hearted, scary intelligent, funny women. Each so different from the other, but these adjectives apply to both of them. Our sons are happy and healthy, and DH and I are thrilled for them.
After spending a difficult weekend with my in laws, these posts are making me jealous.
MIL doesn’t like me or Mr R’s brother’s wife. She made it clear this weekend that she thinks my SIL is a bad mom. It was downhill from there 
So from a DIL, I thank those of you making an effort and accepting your children’s spouses.
It does seem like the MIL/DIL relationship is among the toughest.
My mom is about the sweetest person in the world, and she had a terrible time with her MIL. MIL would make digs that even I noticed as a kid. My grandmother was one of those women who thought nobody was good enough for her son.
Am I mis-remembering, or didn’t one of your d’s get married last June?
Jym, I must be mis-remembering, because I thought you had at some point posted kind words when I wrote about my engaged D’s hideous break-up. However, she has now found someone that I think is the one. Wonderful guy.
MOWC, I’m very sorry.
I don’t recall that, zoos. Sorry for that, but glad she has a great future H. My only memory was that it was supposed to be on my birthday. Other than that, my memory skills are showing their age Hopefully I did also post kind words 
Mrs. Magnetron and I are very happy with S1’s (not yet engaged but probable future DIL) GF of 3 years. She is kind, hard-working, and has that balance of physical, intellectual, and spiritual strengths that we like to think we have in our family. She is much loved by a lot of people. She is from a different world (not quite Syria different) compared to our white-bread suburban life but they combine well.
Problem is S1 will likely not mesh well with her very close and very protective extended family. We have great relationships with both sides of our families and I am sorry that S1 is not likely to have that.
I hereby confess that I never liked the other guy.
This newer guy is fantastic.
I don’t have a DIL, but my son’s girlfriend could almost be one. She’s from Hong Kong, so has spent many holidays with us as well as a couple of weeks last summer so she could sublet her apartment to a summer student. She’s smart interesting, seems to love my son (and vice versa), they never fight in our presence, she enjoys the same games, books and TV shows we do. Which reminds me it’s high time to take her out for a meal. She’s local while son is currently out of state getting training.
MOWC, so sorry about your nasty in-law. Zoosermom - glad you like the new guy!
I held my breath for years about the woman my brother married. She was my best friend, but she’s not easy to live with. More than a little bossy lets say and my brother can be equally stubborn. They’ve been married for almost 40 years, and except for one bad patch when the house was full of babies and my brother was always on the road, I don’t worry about them any more.
Count me as someone who would be thrilled if the oldest ever found anyone who would put up with him. He is not user-friendly though we love him dearly!
Four different women, but I always act nice to son’s g/fs. I was sure he would end up with the last one, after 6+ years. I think I cried for at least a day. I rein myself in from responding to her. The first gal, an international, told me her brother stayed with my son when he was in the USA.
Anyway, this weekend my son introduces the newest to our family at a big event. I hope they treat her with love.
I have a brand new dil. She’s very nice and loves my son. I’m very happy they found each other.
Our relationship is pretty new. She’s a lovely girl but an only child who’s of course close to her mother. They live pretty far away so we haven’t been together too much. Hopefully I don’t annoy her too much.
D was in a long term relationship that was not good. So happy that she broke up with him. He was very controlling and kept us apart. He did not like me and was critical to D about me every time we visited. It was very difficult. She is in a pretty new relationship now and we loved him. Things seem day and night different than her other boyfriend.
Love my new DIL, and think she is a perfect fit for my S. Throughout wedding planning, though I began to be a little concerned that her mother was getting in the way of their ability to make independent decisions about things, but I’ve backed off and decided that it’s up to my S to navigate that relationship. My S2 has been with a lovely girl for 9 months now and my D has been dating a very nice young man for the same amount of time. We’ve spent time with both, and though I have no idea where those relationships are going, I’d be happy for them both if this was it.
I have a SIL as of Labor Day weekend this year, when he married my daughter. But I’ve known him for a while because they lived together for three years before they got married.
Unfortunately, though, I don’t know him very well and I don’t think I ever will. They live in a distant part of the country, and he’s quite introverted and slow to warm up (or possibly simply doesn’t like me). We’ve been together only a handful of times, and he’s still not comfortable with me. Perhaps this will never change – I wish it would, but it may not.
What’s far more important, though, is that he and my daughter are good partners to each other. It’s not necessary for him to like me. What’s necessary is what they so clearly have – a good relationship.
I am unsure how to get to know my DIL better. She is a lovely young woman, and very welcoming, when I visit their town on the other side of the country, as I am when she visits here, which is every two years or so. I got to know my inlaws, who were also distant, by them calling the house phone, and we would chat. S calls me when he is out walking, or returning from a run and we have great conversations. But I never talk to DIL. I think he feels freer to call when she is not around. So the cell phone age has me mystified. As I type, I realize that I need to spend a little more time with them and I truly love to visit California, any time. But with three geographically spread kids and a very aged parent, there is not enough vacation time available.
My FSIL went on a 2 weeks vacation with us this year. My whole family had a bit of a melt down and he kept us together. D2 also ended up in a hospital at a foreign country with a bad food poisoning while we were on vacation. He helped out and took everything in stride.
My family (immediate and extended) go on vacations together at least once a year, so any in-laws coming into the family better like us and are also likable.
GLM, does your S and DIL have children yet? As a DIL who isn’t close to my MIL, grandchildren can be a time to bond.
[Though, as I said upthread, my MIL blew it badly with my SIL who has the first grandchild.]
I love my DIL because she makes my DS happy. But I liked her a lot more before they got married. She was funny and warm and I was sure we would be very close. Her family is religiously intolerant, which she readily acknowledged. Her mother used to insist my son be gone by 8pm (smh) and would call early Sunday mornings to remind her to go to church. Mom threatened to not come to the wedding if any alcohol was present. I assume mom knew they were shacking up, but the fiction was necessary. As soon as she and son married, she was back in the fold of respectability.
I was dismayed by the sanctimonious turn in her Facebook postings, but when she lamented that my DS had wasted so much of his life due to a lack of a religious upbringing I was hurt. We have cleared the air, but I cannot trust her with my feelings. She has given me a delightful grandchild and another is on the way! She is an awesome mother. I sincerely compliment the qualities I admire. Other than that, I keep my feelings to myself. I used to be very close to my son, and still am in some ways. I’m not sure how to process the knowledge that he expects me to burn for eternity in a literal hell. Sigh.
Fortunately, my DD and I are more aligned in the faith arena, and in the other things that matter. Her soon to be fiancé and his family’s religious traditions are much more familiar to me. I’m excited for them!