My evil mother-in-law said I should be more like her. It was her biggest mistake.
Taking Carol’s Advice
Carol was the worst. She told everyone at Thanksgiving that her son married beneath him, and she was surprised I hadn’t gotten fat yet since girls like me always let themselves go.
She’d tell Kenny he should have married his ex while I was standing right there. Then she’d criticize my cooking, my housekeeping, and my low-ass family.
One night, she pulled me aside and said, “You really should learn to be more like me if you want to keep my son”. “He deserves someone with actual class, not trailer trash pretending to be good enough”. I smiled sweetly and said, “You’re absolutely right, Carol”. “I should be exactly like you”. Kenny overheard and had to leave the room to laugh, knowing exactly what was coming.
Carol was the family gossip who called everyone daily to spread news and judgment. So, I started calling those same people five minutes before her usual time. I’d share the same stories, but add concerned observations about Carol.
“Did you notice she repeated that story three times?” “And she seemed confused about what year it was”.
By the time Carol called, everyone thought she was going senile because she was repeating what I had already told them. When she accused me of sabotaging her, they saw it as paranoid delusions.
She doubled down by spreading vicious rumors about my past, so I used her own technique of prayer requests against her. “Please pray for Carol,” I’d tell her church friends, using her exact concerned whisper. “She’s been saying such hateful things about everyone”. “Yesterday, she called Susan’s daughter a I think she needs help”.
Carol had used prayer requests to destroy reputations for years, but now everyone recognized the technique and wondered what she was hiding.
Carol always hosted family dinners to maintain control. So, I started hosting them an hour earlier at my house, using all her recipes and traditions, but executed flawlessly. I’d call relatives with Carol’s exact phrase, “Family is everything, and we need to stay connected”.
When Carol showed up to her empty house with pounds of food, she’d rage call everyone who’d already eaten at my house. Her hysteria just confirmed the mental decline I’d been mentioning.
“You’re stealing my life,” she screamed when she confronted me at church where everyone could hear. “I’m being exactly like you,” I said calmly. “You told me to”. “Remember how you stole your sister-in-law’s cookie recipe and claimed it was your grandmother’s?” “I’m just following your example”.
Carol had always monitored and controlled Kenny’s life, calling him constantly and showing up unannounced, so I started doing it better. I’d call him right before she did with her exact worried tone. “Just checking you ate lunch, sweetheart”.
When Carol called minutes later with the same message, Kenny would tell her I’d already covered it. She accused me of trying to replace her as his mother, which made Kenny laugh and say, “You literally told her to be more like you”.
She retaliated by trying to turn Kenny’s siblings against me, but I’d learned her manipulation tactics perfectly. Carol always gave expensive gifts with strings attached, so I gave the same gifts first without conditions. Carol always accidentally revealed secrets to cause drama, so I’d accidentally mention things Carol had said about each family member. Soon, everyone realized Carol had been playing them against each other for years.
Carol’s special talent was backhanded compliments, so I used them exclusively on her. “Carol looks so brave wearing that dress at her age,” I’d say to her friends, exactly how she’d taught me. “She’s so confident, not caring what people think about her weight gain”.
Her friends recognized her own technique and realized how nasty it had always been.
